The journalist of the Italian TV channel “Rai 3” Paolo Mondani prepared a TV program dedicated to the so-called “Caviar Diplomacy” of Azerbaijan.
The journalist met with Armenian MP Samvel Farmanyan. In his interview, the deputy notes that when he started his activities in the Council of Europe, he realized that he would have to face lobbyists working for Azerbaijan. Among them, Farmanyan lists the names of the Italian politician, the former head of the European People’s Party faction in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Luca Volonte, and the current president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Pedro Agramunt, who defended Azerbaijan’s interests for money.
German deputy in the Council of Europe Christoph Strasser notes that oil-rich Azerbaijan spends its finances mainly for corrupt purposes. Money is buying influence for Azerbaijan. And 2 million spent on lobbyists is a good investment.
However, it should be noted that these investments do not cause enthusiasm among the population of the country. Dissatisfied with the rule of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the opposition on September 17, 2016, came out to the streets. The protesters held placards with photos of political prisoners. At the rally, it was suggested that the government should use the country’s resources for the benefit of the people, and not invest in foreign countries.
“For 23 years the country has been ruled by the dynasty of Aliyev. First, the father – Heydar Aliyev – falsified the results of the voting in the elections, then in 2003 the power was transferred to his son Ilham Aliyev,” says the leader of the opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli. According to him, Aliyev has power over the parliament and over the judicial system of the country. All major banks, holdings and all large organizations of the country are in the hands of the president.
The TV program also presents to the viewers attention the fact that the name of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appears in the documents of the Panama company Mossack Fonseca, which deals with the registration of offshore companies. As noted, in April 2016 the name of Aliyev and his family was on the first pages of the Panama documents.
In the list of “Panama offshore” there are also the names of the daughters of the president of the country. Thus, Leyla and Arzu Aliyev under the cover of “charity” in the US use Panama investments to control the mobile communication company, the Azerbaijani bank “AtaBank” and 6 gold mines.
However, before the publication of the Panama documents, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova had already disclosed information about the Aliyev offshore property. The journalist started her investigation in 2011. According to her, President Aliyev’s family is getting richer at the expense of public funds.
It is recalled that in January 2013 in PACE in the voting a veto was cast on the report on 85 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The report was submitted for discussion by the German deputy in the Council of Europe, Christoph Strasser. However, the deviation of the report, in particular, was contributed to by the active work of the Italian politician Luca Volonte.
Luca Volonte, an Italian politician and former head of the European People’s Party faction in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), received a total of €2.39 million for carrying out political activities in the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities.
It is also noted, that according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), using the network of secret companies in offshore zones, the Aliyev clan, as well as its advisers and allies began to buy expensive houses abroad, shares in the profitable business and in the extraction of natural resources of the country. Aliyev’s family runs a large gold mine, which until now has not been known.
It was reported that in mid-2003, a few months before the presidential elections that took place in October, Azerbaijan’s tax minister Fazil Mammadov began to create one of the largest conglomerates of the country – AtaHolding. Mammadov invited President Aliev’s family to join him, creating a potentially powerful and profitable business-political partnership.
According to ICIJ, “AtaHolding” is a corporation with an impressive share in the banking, telecommunication, construction, mining, oil and gas sectors of Azerbaijan. According to data from 2014, its assets in stocks exceed $ 490 million.
According to the pop-up information, two years later, in 2005, Ilham Aliyev’s wife, MP Mehriban Aliyeva, became one of the two directors of the UFUniverse fund together with Fazil Mammadov. In the documents, attached to the “Very Important” e-mail, sent by the Aliyev-represented lawyer to Mossack Fonseca company in February 2005, it is proposed that the six-year-old son of Ilham Aliyev, Heydar, who is listed in the files as “A1”, becomes the beneficiary 20% of the fund’s income. It was also suggested that his 19-year-old daughter Leila and 17-year-old daughter Arzu should be indicated as beneficiaries of 15% of the income (each). Mammadov’s son owned 30% of the share, and other former tax officials – small shares, as well as the chairman of “Ata Holding” – Ahmed Erentok.