Prosecutor's Office to check reports on extortion of money by Avaz Zeynally

Baku/08.09.22/Turan: The Prosecutor's Office will check all reports of criminal nature. The Turan News Agency was told by the Press Service of the Prosecutor General's Office commenting on the reports about extortion of 20.000 manats from the family of businessman Rasim Mammadov by Avaz Zeynalli, editor of website "Khural".

Earlier haqqin.az published a record of phone conversation between Avaz Zeynally and a person.  In the conversation, Zeynally expresses his willingness to "return what he had received" and apologizes for criticizing Rasim Mammadov.

According to haqqin.az, Avaz Zeynally took 20.000 manats from Rasim Mammadov's family to stop criticism against him. After the family expressed discontent that Zeynally broke the agreement, he returned the money. This is what is recorded in the disclosed telephone conversation.

However, it is not clear who recorded the conversation and how it reached the press. The recorded conversation also does not contain the voice of Zeynally's interlocutor. According to haqqin.az, it was a lawyer of the businessman's family.

It was not possible to contact Zeynalli himself. However, in his Youtube channel “Xural TV”, he denied these accusations, calling them “custom-made”. He also said that he knew who made this order, without naming names.

 At the same time, he did not comment on the issue of receiving money or returning it to Rasim Mammadov's family.

* Rasim Mammadov  is the former  owner of Baku Steel Company plant. In February 2021, he was arrested on charges of abuse, major fraud and embezzlement. The lawsuit against him was filed by business partners.

** Avaz Zeynally was arrested in 2011 and sentenced in March 2013 to 9 years of imprisonment on extortion charges. He was pardoned in December 2014.-02B-