AZERBAIJAN CORRUPTION RELATED CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

The Azerbaijani authorities are continuing with a wave of arrests and purges allegedly related to corruption or misconduct, in a pattern that intensified last year and is picking up speed.

The latest detentions came in the Shamkir district, 400 km west of the capital, on April 26.

In this instance, according to the independent Turan News agency, the local Shamkir district chief and several of his deputies were rounded up by the State Security Service.

District chief Alimpash Mammadov along with his local deputy, Gudrat Aliyev, who was also the head of the local education department, were brought in by State Security, according to Turan, citing sources in the body. Two others in the local administration were also included in the latest crackdown.

Turan later reported that district chief Mammadov had been dismissed from his post, again citing security sources.

The State Security Service has yet to comment officially and often does not make statements until after formal charges are made, though the authorities are on a highly visible campaign against corruption. The first signs of this came in late 2019.

But the anti-corruption campaign highly intensified following the end of Azerbaijan’s war with Armenia in late 2020, when Baku retook seven districts of the country occupied by Armenian forces for nearly three decades. Only smaller parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh district remain under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists.

President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated in recent weeks and months that rampant corruption or de facto private monopolies would no longer be tolerated.

The Baku government is obviously emboldened by its war victory, which reversed the long occupation and humiliation.

ARRESTS, DISMISSALS JUST LATEST IN FEW DAYS

The latest detentions come just after several medical officials who, the government says, took payoffs in exchange for accommodating certain COVID-19 patients with preferential treatment, were also charged.

As a result of that scandal, the country’s health minister was fired over the weekend.

That came after a main official with the state agency for Medical and Social Expertise and Rehabilitation, Oruj Mammadov, was detained for bribe-taking late last week. Mammadov, prosecutors allege, took 4,000 manats ($2,350) to procure special treatment in exchange for cash with a hospital tied to the powerful Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Oluj Mammadov was charged under Articles 311.2 (taking a bribe) and 312-1.1 (illegal influence on the decision of an official).

In addition, the chiefs of a special hospital run by the Ministry of Emergency Situations were also arrested. “Yeni Klinika” (New Clinic) chief Parviz Abbasov was arrested on charges of bribe-taking, the press service of the General Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The prosecutor’s office alleges Abbasov, as well as others, including employees Avaz Huseynov, Samir Mirzoyev and Vusala Aliyev were also charged with accepting bribes of 3,000 to 3,500 manats for preferred admission as coronavirus inpatients.

A lawsuit was filed against Abbasov under Articles 311.3.1 (taking a bribe by a group of persons by prior conspiracy) and 311.3.2 (repeatedly taking a bribe). According to the court decision, Abbasov was taken into custody. A criminal case was initiated against Huseynov. Aliyeva and Mirzoyev were charged with crimes under articles 32.5, 311.3.1 (assistance in receiving a bribe by a group of persons by prior agreement).

“Yeni Klinika” was opened in April last year and has been used to treat coronavirus patients. It was equipped with modern medical equipment and was considered the most advanced among the “covid” hospitals.

SECURITY OFFICIALS ARRESTED EARLIER THIS MONTH

Earlier in April, two retired Security Ministry generals were formally charged under articles covering extortion, falsification of evidence, bribe-taking, and abuse of power.

The prosecutor’s office said the two – who held key roles at the now-dissolved and reconstituted security organ, falsified evidence in nine criminal cases, abused official powers, committed various corruption crimes, extorted bribes, embezzled property, and received large bribes for admitting persons to the security academy.

The ministry was disbanded in part because of allegations of massive corruption. 21 senior ministry officers were prosecuted and arrested in 2015, the last year of its existence.

On April 3, the former head of the Baku City Executive Office, Rasim Guliyev, was arrested for alleged illegal issuance of a building permit and abuse of office, resulting in grave consequences.

Before that, the head of an essential state steel monopoly was arrested and charged with especially large-scale corruption.

A high-ranking military officer was charged in a murder case in which he stabbed a man to death with a knife to the heart some two decades ago. And a government minister was arrested on graft and abuse of office charges.

President Aliyev has been very vocal in recent weeks and months about the need to end large-scale corruption and root out de facto state monopolies.