Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Rolls-Royce admits bribing Azeri and Kazakh officials

ALMATY, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — British engineering company Rolls-Royce, famed for its powerful industrial engines, admitted to prosecutors in the US, Britain and Brazil that it had bribed officials for years to win contracts, including in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The revelations that one of Britain’s most famous companies bribed their way into contracts will not only damage British industry’s reputation but will also reinforce the reputations of both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan as countries where corruption is rife.

The focus of the corrupt payments was a firm called Unaoil which acted as an intermediary for Rolls-Royce, and other companies, for winning contracts. The prosecution said Rolls-Royce knew that some of the fees they paid to Unaoil and other advisers would be used to bribe officials.

Last year, as reported by The Conway Bulletin, the Monaco-based Unaoil was exposed as acting as an intermediary for a number of Western companies.

In a video statement, Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East said corruption at the company was linked to a handful of rogue employees.

“It is apparent that the standards of our business conduct have not lived up to the high standards of our engineering,” he said.

Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay an $800m fine for a so-called Deferred Prosecution Agreement which means that, in return for paying the fine and admitting guilt, criminal proceedings are dropped.

In Kazakhstan the prosecution said Roll-Royce paid out $5.4m to advisers between 2009-12, knowing that some of these fees would be converted into bribes for officials handing out contracts for elements of a gas pipeline between Kazakhstan and China. Rolls-Royce also hired a local distributor in 2012 who they knew was linked to a government official able to influence tenders.

In Azerbaijan Rolls-Royce paid intermediaries who bribed officials on their behalf between 2000-9.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Azerbaijan’s Sofaz boosts state budget

JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government will take $4b from its sovereign wealth fund, Sofaz, to spend on defending the value of the manat currency. A decree signed by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, called on the cash to be used to “ensure macroeconomic stability”. This is the second year running that Sofaz, now worth around $33b, has been a net contributor to the national budget. Azerbaijan has been severely hit by the drop in oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Azerbaijan’s Central Bank to scrap exchange rate corridor

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said that it will scrap a 4% exchange rate corridor to allow the manat to float freely. The exchange rate corridor had been designed to keep the manat stable but it has come under increased pressure because of the drop in oil prices and economic problems in Russia. The manat is now trading at around 1.82/$1. In June it traded at 1.49/$1.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

An Azeri go-between emerges for Trump-Putin

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A dossier produced by a former British spy detailing how Russian president Vladimir Putin had developed links with incoming US president Donald Trump has shocked the Washington political establishment.

The report, published online by the Buzzfeed news website on Jan. 10, also detailed how Russia has gathered enough evidence of Trump’s alleged bribery and sexual escapades that it was now able to blackmail him.

Trump has called the dossier a pack of lies but what is undeniable is the assertion in the dossier that Araz Agalarov, an ethnic Azerbaijani billionaire with strong links to both the Kremlin and to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, plays a key link role with Trump.

One memo sent by the British spy to his Washington client quoted sources in St Petersburg saying that Trump had visited the city, taken part in sex parties and paid bribes for real estate deals. The memo didn’t offer much in the way of direct evidence to corroborate these allegations, and it has to be repeated that Trump has denied everything.

On Agalarov, though, it did offer this aside: “The two St Petersburg figures cited believe an Azeri business figure Araz Agalarov (with offices in Baku and London) had been closely involved with Trump in Russia and would know most of the details of what the Republican candidate had got up to there.”

Agalarov has also been credited with bringing Trump’s Miss Universe contest to Moscow in 2013 and agreeing to build a Trump Tower.

In short, Agalarov has emerged as a key figure in the Trump-Putin story. Worth an estimated $1.3b, Agalarov splits his time between Moscow, London and Baku. His main business interest is the Russia-based Crocus, which started organising and hosting exhibitions in post-Soviet Moscow, before moving into real estate and owning shopping malls.

In many ways, the 62-year-old Agalarov is a good foil for Trump in the former Soviet Union. He can match Trump on bravado and business interests but cuts a more sophisticated figure.

He is friends with Putin and is also close to Azerbaijan’s president Aliyev. His musician son, Emin, was married to Aliyev’s daughter Leyla until their divorce in 2015. Agalarov and Aliyev, though, share two twin grandsons through the marriage.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Police in Azerbaijan detain family of exiled anti- government rapper and independent blogger

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The police in Azerbaijan allegedly breifly detained and threatened four family members of exiled rapper Jamal Ali in retaliation for his new song dedicated to two imprisoned anti-government activists.

Mr Ali’s rap, released on Dec. 31 and watched over 100,000 times on YouTube, criticised president Ilham Aliyev.

“The police told my mum ‘We cannot arrest your son, so we arrested you’. They also told her I had to take down my video from YouTube,” he wrote, adding that he would only take the rap down when Mr Aliyev had resigned.

Three days later, on Jan. 9, Mehman Huseynov a popular Azerbaijani blogger, who has documented what he has described as human rights infringements in Baku, said that he was taken to a police station by security officers and roughed up.

Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, said that Huseynov had been abducted by police, beaten and forced into a confession that he had been fighting.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Fruit exports rise in Azerbaijan

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s agricultural exports in the first 11 months of 2016 totalled $381m, a rise of 21.6% from 2015, the fruit-inform.com website reported. Most of the export increase was in fruit and vegetables. Azerbaijan is a major regional fruit and vegetable exporter although its value pales in comparison to oil and gas export volumes. Still, although the volume is small, it is also important. Azerbaijan’s government has said that it wants to diversify the country’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Azerbaijan starts Israeli drone production

JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Azad Systems started manufacturing a version of an Israeli drone, media reported. Azerbaijan-Israel ties have improved over the past half a decade. Israel buys oil from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan buys military equipment from Israel. Azerbaijan has spent heavily on improving its military and military-industrial base over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Skirmish kills Azerbaijani and Armenian men

DEC. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At least four soldiers, three Armenian and one Azerbaijani, were killed in fighting between the two neighbours, media reported quoting officials from both Armenia and Azerbaijan. The skirmishes are the most serious around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since dozens died in April 2016. A UN-brokered deal has held an uneasy peace over the region since 1994.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Azerbaijan extends BP deal

DEC. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has extended a deal made with a BP-led consortium dubbed the ‘Contract of the Century’ to develop its biggest Caspian Sea oil fields. The extension, although expected, had been delayed by arguments between the partners and a row with the Azerbaijani government over a drop in output at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshly fields (ACG). ACG is the lynchpin of Azerbaijan’s economy. The BP-led consortium will now develop the fields until 2050. The original deal had been due to expire in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Azerbaijani becomes Reina victim

JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An ethnic Azerbaijani woman with Russian citizenship, Nurana Hasanova, was killed during an attack by an alleged member of the radical IS group on a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve. It’s not clear ifHasanova was working at the nightclub or was visiting. At least 39 people died in the attack.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)