27 April 2018, 02:07
Ismayilova associates delay in her case with investigation into Aliev family's business
In Baku, the court has again postponed for indefinite time the consideration of the claim filed by the Ministry of Taxes against journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The journalist associates the delay in the case with her new investigation into the businesses of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev's daughters, as well as sons of Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 14, 2017, Khadija Ismayilova learned that her account at the commercial bank "Kapitalbank" had been frozen. It was the Local Revenue Department of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes which appealed to the court with a claim to arrest the journalist's account.
Journalist Khadija Ismayilova became well-known for her journalistic investigations of corruption in Azerbaijan. In September 2015, she was sentenced to 7.5 years of imprisonment on the charges of economic crimes. In May 2016, the Supreme Court (SC) replaced her real term of imprisonment with 3.5 years of conditional sentence with a probation period of five years.
A regular court hearing to consider the case was scheduled for April 26. However, it did not take place, since an official from the Ministry of Taxes asked to postpone the trial, Khadija Ismayilova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Khadija Ismayilova associates the ongoing delay in the case with the fact that the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published her new investigation.
The publication entitled "Pilatus: A Private Bank for Azerbaijan's Ruling Elite" reports about the investments made by Aliev's and Heydarov's children to businesses, expensive real estates and modern hotels throughout Europe and the Middle East. As a cover, they use dozens of offshore companies, and financial transactions are conducted through the Maltese "Pilatus" Bank. The bank has only 150 clients, and most of them are members of the ruling elite of Azerbaijan, the OCСRP website reports.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Faik Medzhid Source: CK correspondent
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