Baku. Shahriyar Alizade, Etibar Mamamdov – APA. The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Friday continued the trial in the case of Vidadi Zeynalov, former head of the Office of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies, and other people arrested alongside him.
Accused Jalil Jafarov, general director of AzInTelekom LLC, answered questions from a public prosecutor at the hearing presided over by judge Afgan Hajiyev.
He said that they were working on the basis of the regulations of the ministry.
“Financial sources of the ministry run on self-supporting basis. This ministry has brought currency reserves to the country. The revenue rose up to 100 million manats in the period when I worked. My duty as a director was to fulfill the tasks of the ministry’s leadership. I have fulfilled all the tasks within the law,” added Jafarov.
He also clarified the issue of financing a volleyball team which he created.
“I don’t want to speak about the expenses which is impossible to be documented. I haven’t spent all the money for myself, and Vidadi Zeynalov was aware of everything. Every month, I took AZN 50,000 from Vidadi Zeynalov under the instruction of minister Ali Abbasov. And the money mentioned during the investigation was paid by my brother. It was hard to manage the sphere of volleyball and significant amounts were required.
Asked by the public prosecutor whether he knows Elmar Huseynov, an employee of AKEY LLC, Jafarov replied: “I have met with him several times. He game me money for the volleyball club. Under the instruction of minister Ali Abbasov, I was monthly spending $29,000 on data system, $50,000 on the expenditures of the club and giving $300,000 to Vidadi Zeynalov. I was thinking that these funds are legal. I didn’t commit a crime, only worked for my state and people.”
To the question from an attorney, Jafarov said that minister Ali Abbasov directly instructed him to sign a contract and cooperate with Cartburg NC company. “The minister himself was controlling the prices, monthly volume and quality of traffic,” he added.
In his speech, accused Gambar Beybalayev, director general of Azerpocht LLC, also pleaded not guilty, noting that the ministry and state allocated funds to the company for restoration of postal services in the districts.
“Tenders were conducted after the allocation of funds and contracts were signed with the companies. But, I didn’t take part in these processes. After the allocation of funds by the ministry, minister Ali Abbasov offered to pay extra funds to the employees. I asked Abbasov to increase salaries instead of this. He agreed and my salary was increased from 300 to 1,300 manats,” he added.
The process will be resumed on December 7.
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14:12
Baku. Shahriyar Alizade – APA. The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Friday 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.
Namazali Mammadov testified at the hearing. He said he has engaged in business since 1997. “Investigators said the amounts were exaggerated. They were wrong. It was determined that “Aztelekom” owes me 16 million manats and I was accused of embezzling 4 million manats. I don’t know the reason for my arrest,” he said.
Answering the prosecutor’s questions, Mammadov said he did not give money to Vidadi Zeynalov.
Jalil Jafarov also pleaded not guilty. He said he did not violate laws. He said he is an expert in the field of communications. “I monthly reported to the minister about conversational traffic via social networks. Conversational traffic via social networks is decreasing in the world. Russia was keeping us in monopoly. Later, we were able to join the European traffic. Once it was hard to connect with Nakhchivan. We have held talks with Iran and installed roaming system. I signed the agreement on the launch of an Azerbaijani satellite. Then, “Azerkosmos” was created and it took over activities,” he said and asked the court for acquittal.
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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