Azerbaijan accused of $2.9bn money-laundering scheme

Azerbaijan's ruling elite  ran a secret 2.5 billion euro ($2.9bn) slush fund to pay off European politicians and launder money, according to an investigation by a group of European newspapers.


The fund operated for two years from 2012 to 2014 through bank accounts of four shell companies registered in Britain, according to the investigation by papers including The Guardian and France's Le Monde and published on Tuesday by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Nicknamed the "Azerbaijan Laundromat", the origin of the fund is unclear "but there is ample evidence of its connection to the family of President Ilham Aliyev", the report said.

Authorities in the energy-rich country dismissed claims that the funds were linked to the first family and said the reports were "biased, unfounded and provocative".

"They are part of a campaign to smear Azerbaijan," presidential adviser Ali Hasanov told AFP news agency, pointing the finger at arch-foe Armenia and the "global Armenian lobby."

The Guardian said some of the money went to politicians and journalists as part of a "caviar diplomacy" lobbying effort to deflect criticism at a time when the former Soviet state was being accused of arresting rights activists and journalists and of vote-rigging.

"This intensive lobbying operation was so successful that Council of Europe members voted against a 2013 report critical of Azerbaijan," the British newspaper said.

Banking records leaked to Danish newspaper Berlingske which sparked the investigation show multiple payments to several former members of the Council's parliamentary assembly, The Guardian said.
 [aljazeera.com]
5/9/17