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 alongside him.
Zeynalov’s lawyer, Baylar Mamishov, said the indictment against his client was not proved during the investigation, noting that Zeynalov duties did not include control over financial affairs.
From this standpoint, the indictment on embezzlement of state property against him is absurd because no state property could have been entrusted to him, the lawyer noted.
“Being the head of the ministry’s office, Vidadi Zeynalov was not a person with material responsibility. Vidadi Zeynalov was proved innocent of the accusations brought against him during the investigation. The other defenders and the witnesses also held that they had not received any illegal orders from Vidadi Zeynalov. On the other hand, the fact that Vidadi Zeynalov would give monthly packages of salary to certain individuals was due to the leadership’s direct order. That is to say, anyone would have acted on the order of the person who was in higher authority. In that case, the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the person in higher authority, not Vidadi Zeynalov. For this reason, I seek acquittal for my defender,” the lawyer said.
Mamishov also submitted to the court a receipt of reimbursement of 4 million 200 thousand manats.
Elkhan Suleymanli, the other lawyer of Zeynalov, asked the court to acquit his client.
He said that investigation materials don’t include any evidence proving P.L.Z LLC and Farid-R manufacturing companies’ functioning under the leadership of Zeynalov: “Vidadi Zeynalov didn’t deny in the hearing that the companies are owned by the people who are closed to him. However, this closeness doesn’t mean a fault and Vidadi Zeynalov shouldn’t be required illegal calculations”.
Beytulla Huseynov’s lawyer Vilayet Nadirov noted that his defendant fully reimbursed the damage and therefore, he should be freed. “Thus, I ask you to set him free under the Article 70 and remove the arrest on the property of him and his relatives,” said the lawyer.
The court gave time for other lawyers.
The trial will be resumed on July 5.
A state prosecutor had earlier asked the court to sentence Vidadi Zeynalov to 14 years in prison and other accused persons B.Huseynov to 15 years, A.Mustafayev to 8 years, Q.Beybalayev to 10 years. The prosecutor also asked to sentence each of M.Mammadov, J.Jafarov, S.Humbatov and B.Valiyev to 5 years, 11 months and 11 days of probation.
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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