What have caused the arrests in the Ministry of Defense?

Baku/14.02.22/Turan: As a result of the operation carried out by the State Security Service (SSS) in the Ministry of Defense. a number of officials were detained. According to media reports, among the detainees are Rafael Khalilov, head of the financial department of the Defense Ministry, Fazail Aliyev, head of the financial department of the "N-th" military unit, Bayram Bayramov, head of the financial department of the Ground Forces, and Alizade Vusal Adalet oglu, officer of the financial department.

According to the report, the Main Investigation Department of the State Security Service charged the listed persons under  the Articles  of the Criminal Code: 179.4 (embezzlement on an especially large scale) and 341 (abuse of power, excess and inaction of power). The Baku Military Court sentenced Rafael Khalilov, Bayram Bayramov, Farahim Sarkarov and Vusal Alizade to four months in prison each.

The total amount of damage caused exceeds 10 million manats (over $5.8 million).

The State Security Service does not disclose information about the operation.

Jasur Sumerinli, the head of the Khazar Institute of Military Research, commented on the reasons for these arrests in the “Difficult Question” program.

According to him, from a tactical point of view, this is an ordinary phenomenon. “Although not so often, but nevertheless, from time to time, corruption investigations and arrests were carried out in the Moscow Region. As a rule, this happened behind the scenes, and such information was not made available to the general public,” Sumerenli said.

In his opinion, the current process of fighting corruption is conducted more publicly. And this is already connected with a strategic issue - with the restructuring of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan according to the type of the Turkish Armed Forces and the recommendations of Turkish colleagues.

“Obviously, if a decision is made to conduct military construction according to the Turkish model, then all negative phenomena must be put an end to. Especially since we are talking about corruption and theft. And therefore, checks in the financial sector should be perceived as a natural process,” he said.

However, the expert questioned the duration of this strategy.

“The path to the creation of a modern army lies through the fight against corruption. We are now witnessing steps taken in this direction. But how long all this will last, how consistent the government will be is unknown. Since there are moments where military construction, the fight against corruption intersects with the interests of the ruling family. I mean the processes of buying and selling. We're talking millions of dollars here. And since we are talking about the fight against corruption, it should also affect tenders. But frankly speaking, I don't believe in it,” Sumerenli said.

“Most likely, we will talk about reducing the level of corruption at the grassroots and middle levels. And in this way to overcome the discontent of the people,” he said.