The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday continued the trial in the criminal case involving Vidadi Zeynalov, head of the Office of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, and others arrested with him.
During the trial, attorneys made a petition. Defendant Bayram Valiyev was brought to the courtroom in a stretcher, APA reported.
Valiyev’s attorney asked for his defendant’s pretrial detention to be replaced with house arrest given his deteriorating health.
“Bayram Valiyev needs special medical aid. His problem is linked with the nervous system and painkillers do not help any more. Bayram is unable to fulfill his duties as a defendant. I’m asking you to replace his pretrial detention with house arrest,” he said.
Vidadi Zeynalov’s attorney Baylar Mamishov said that the charges faced by his defendant cover the period 2009 to 2015 and that 67 properties claimed to be his have been put arrest on.
“…while the truth is, only two of those properties actually belong to Vidadi Zeynalov. One of those two properties was seized before the period the indictment applies to. Vidadi Zeynalov’s sisters’ properties are under arrest as well. This is a violation of property rights. I suggest that the arrest on his properties be lifted and the properties be sold to compensate for the damage,” he said.
Judge Afgan Hajiyev said that the property-related issue will be assessed in the consulting room in the end.
Defendants Namazali Mammadov and Anar Mustafayev filed a petition asking the court to hold a repeat expertise and question the experts of the Finance Ministry. The petitions remained unconsidered. The court rejected the petition regarding commuting Valiyev’s detention to home arrest.
In this case, Valiyev’s attorney objected to the composition of the court. The attorney noted that Valiyev is absent in the hearing due to the problems in his health and he objects to the court’s conducting an investigation in this case.
Commenting on the petition regarding objection to the court composition, the other defendants said that the decision is left to the discretion of the court. Bayram Valiyev objected to these opinions of them, and used offensive words. “They don’t defend the petition because they are the guilty”, he said.
The court board considered the objection groundless and rejected it.
The hearing will be continued on March 29.
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 head of the ministry’s Office, 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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