Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
By Samir Ali – Trend:
The Baku Grave Crimes Court continued the preparatory trial proceedings on the criminal case of the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Jahangir Hajiyev, his relative Ismayil Hidayetzade, ex-MP Dunyamin Khalilov, Jamal Hasanov, Sarkhan Rasulov, Natig Imanov, Samir Hajiyev, Tabriz Abdulhamidov and 16 others, Trend reports.
During the trial chaired by Judge Faig Ganiyev, the defendant Hajiyev testified and did not accept the accusation of the court against him and the accusation brought against him by the prosecutors during the last court session.
The prosecutor protested the former banker’s statements. The judge interrupted Hajiyev and wanted the defendant to tell him about the essence of the accusation.
Then Hajiyev retold the events related to the theft of 4.7 billion manats, the misappropriation of which he is accused of.
“Government prosecutors did not even become fully studied the criminal case. They only familiarized themselves with a part of the prosecution. I am asking to explain, how did this money ended up in my account and in my family’s accounts. Is there any evidence? As if I purchased property for this money. Based on the complaint of Emin Mustafayev, who was my deputy during my time at the bank, a criminal case was initiated," said Hajiyev.
Hajiyev, answering the prosecutor’s questions, said that he had known fellow defendant Dunyamin Khalilov from a young age, but had not had any business ties with the ex-deputy.
"Dunyamin Khalilov exercised control over certain projects, on my instructions," said Hajiyev.
It was announced in the court that Khalilov’s name appears in many episodes in the indictment.
According to official information, during the investigation, there were reasonable suspicions that the contracts for the purchase and sale of promissory notes in the amount of $3.4 billion and 987 million euros were concluded with some legal entities in various countries and illegal transactions were carried out by using promissory notes in 2001-2015 upon Hajiyev’s instructions, who was the chairman of the board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan.
Moreover, there were reasonable suspicions that Khalilov, 20 more people, as well as other people, caused damage to the bank, misappropriating 4.7 billion manats. Moreover, Hajiyev declined to pay taxes to the budget in the amount of 1,752,000 manats on the profit of Aztorg LLC, jointly led by Hajiyev and Khalilov in 2011-2014.
The Baku Grave Crimes Court previously sentenced Hajiyev to 15 years in prison, Dunyamin Khalilov to 13 years, and Ismayil Hidayetzade to 7 years in prison.
Khalilov’s sentence was reduced from 13 to 12 years and 9 months by a decision of the Baku Court of Appeals; Hidayetzade’s sentence was reduced to five years by the Supreme Court.