Trial of Azerbaijani ministry’s ex-official continued - UPDATED

Trial of Azerbaijani ministry’s ex-official continued - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED
# 30 November 2016 13:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Shahriyar Alizade – APA. The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday continued the trial in the criminal case involving Vidadi Zeynalov, chief of the Office of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies, and other people arrested alongside him.

Anar Mustafayev answered the prosecutor’s questions. The prosecutor asked him who gave him the order to raise prices. Mustafayev said he discovered this later. “Beytulla Huseynov was not given any order in my presence. I learned it later. At the time, I was 27, and he was 42,” he said.

It became clear during the trial that in 2005 Beytulla Huseynov was appointed director and Anar Mustafayev chief accountant at the Baku Telephone Network Production Association.

Mustafayev said of the money package he had received that the amount changed between 800 and 1,000 manats per month, and the total amount was 95,000-110,000 manats.

Huseynov said he have Anar Mustafayev 7,000 manats per month, noting that he did not get the whole of it. “He had 30 employees.”

Mustafayev said the salary was from 560 to 1,000 manats.

Mustafayev noted Bayram Valiyev, Emin Mammadov, Namazali Mammadov and he embezzled the funds under their consent.

We didn’t embezzle the state property. These funds were spent on oncological diseases, weddings, funerals and other events. I don’t know the amount of money given to the ministry, but Beytullah Huseynov and Vidadi Zeynalov know,” he added.

The hearing will be resumed on Dec.2.

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14:21

Baku. Shahriyar Alizade – APA. The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday continued the trial in the criminal case involving Vidadi Zeynalov, chief of the Office of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies, and other people arrested alongside him.

Vidadi Zeynalov’s attorney Jeyhun Yusifov questioned Beytulla Huseynov, asking him what he meant by “the amounts given in the bill of indictment are exaggerated.”

Huseynov replied that the expenses were not counted. The attorney asked who had given him the order. Huseynov refused to mention the name, noting that he confirms the testimony he gave during preliminary investigation.

After the break, he said the order had been given by former minister of communications and high technologies Ali Abbasov.

“The minister told us to give the money to Vidadi Zeynalov. This way he was trying to make sure we were not deceiving him. We sent 200,000-250,000 manats in the initial months and 100,000-150,000 manats in the following months to Vidadi Zeynalov through Anar Mustafayev,” added Huseynov.

Later on, Anar Mustafayev gave testimony, noting that he was treated in a biased manner during the investigation.

“Beytulla Huseynov gave me 8,000 manats for my operation and 7,000 manats for my treatment. If I received extra money, why I asked him for money? I had only 2,000 manats out of the money. The rest was spent. During the investigation I was asked to say the amount precisely. As I didn’t remember, I said that I had given packages to Vidadi Zeynalov two or three times. However, I didn’t know what there was in the packages. We have spent properly the money allocated from the budget. Because Emin Mammadov said that the funds were not enough. And we asked Bayram to create a company and work together. Thus, we did work for 130 manats while others did for 170 manats. We didn’t come to the post to end our career. Thirty-six buildings were built in Baku. I admit that I have received additional funds, but not in the same amount every year. This amount ranged between AZN 800 and 2,000. I plead partially guilty,” he added.

The process will be resumed in the afternoon.

A series of investigative operations had discovered that in 2009-2015, the director general of Baku Telephone Network Production Association Beytulla Huseynov, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the director of “Bakı Rabite Temir Tikinti” and “Temir Techizat Servis” companies Bayram Valiyev, the director of "3 nomreli Rabite Temir Tikinti” and “Rabite Mulki Tikinti” companies Emin Mammadov and the chief accountant of the Baku Telephone Network Production Association Anar Mustafayev, gave them a project for the implementation of works on the new telephone lines and installation of new equipment. According to the agreement concluded between them, 35-45% are listed on the accounts of these companies means then had to be returned in cash to Beytullah Huseynov. After that Beytullah Huseynov, abusing official powers and organizing sham tenders issued forged documents, which indicated that the work for the fiber-optic lines for the Internet were carried out by companies controlled by him, though in reality, these works were carried out by local telephone networks. Because of these machinations Beytulla Huseynov misappropriated 21,379,000 of 71,263 million manats, transfers to accounts controlled by him LLC. However, investigators have reason to suspect that the Chief of Staff of the Ministry Vidadi Zeynalov, processing government orders to close the company itself and increasing their value by 4-5 times, misappropriated 73.59 million manats.

The investigation revealed cases of appropriation of budgetary funds and forgery in “Aztelekom” LLC, “AzÄ°nTelekom” LLC, Center for information and calculations, “Optik Rabite Tikinti ve Qurashdırma”.

The director general of Baku Telephone Network Production Association Beytulla Huseynov, the director of “Bakı Rabite Temir Tikinti” and “Temir Techizat Servis” companies Bayram Valiyev, the director of "3 nomreli Rabite Temir Tikinti” and “Rabite Mulki Tikinti” companies Emin Mammadov and the chief accountant of the Baku Telephone Network Production Association Anar Mustafayev are charged under articles 179.3.2 (embezzlement on a large scale), 308.2 (abuse of power) and 313 (forgery) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

The head of the ministry’s Office Vidadi Zeynalov, the director general of AzInTelekom LLC Jalil Jafarov, the director general of Azerpocht LLC Gambar Beybalayev face charges under articles 179.3.2 and 308.2. A preventive measure in the form of arrest has been chosen against all of those persons.

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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED