On 13 May, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General filed a lawsuit in connection with the unlawful actions of coastal guard officials of the State Border Guard Service, reported Turan. The State Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office said that as a result of investigative measures, the illegal activities of officials in the Coast Guard Service were suppressed. According to unofficial data, there have been arrests. The details of the operation have yet to be publicly unveiled.
A day earlier, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service publicly revealed that the Deputy Minister of Culture Rafig Bayramov and Head of the State Service of Cultural Heritage Conservation, Development and Rehabilitation under the Ministry of Culture Zakir Sultanov abused their official powers and committed numerous violations that significantly harm the interests protected by the Azerbaijani society and state laws, reported Trend.
During a search conducted by the State Security Service on 8 May 2020 in the offices and apartments of Bayramov and Sultanov, various notes on the amounts of funds accepted by officials of the Ministry of Culture, cash in various currencies, other documents and material evidence of importance to the case, were found. During the investigation, there were substantial suspicions that Sultanov and Bayramov were constantly embezzling part of the budget allocated for the necessary work on protection, restoration and reconstruction of historical monuments and cultural samples that are centuries-old cultural heritage and assets of the Azerbaijani people.
Speaking on the matter, the deputy speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament Adil Aliyev emphasized that a systemic fight against corruption has been launched in the country, and no one should doubt it. “The recent arrests at the Ministry of Culture indicate that there are no borders to fight corruption, that every official or structure engaged in illegal activities will be exposed,” he said.
Although the arrests of public officials for corruption charges have become more frequent in Azerbaijan, not all people are optimistic about their outcome. The political commentator Arastun Orujlu considers that the arrests have no method behind them. “I must say that there is no systematic and rational line in the arrests themselves, nor in the methods of their implementation. The arrests themselves are notable for their impulsiveness and chaotic nature, and I think the harm of their implementation outweighs their benefits. It seems as if someone has presented a counter-productive scenario to the government, and everything happens according to that scenario,” he said.
According to Orujlu the arrests serve as means to the government of Azerbaijan to prevent social and economic complications in the country which were triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sharp decline in oil prices. "At the same time, I want to say that there is no fight against corruption, and it cannot be, because in today's Azerbaijan, corruption is not only a way to accumulate wealth but also a mechanism of governance. The government has exact information about the wealth of every official, but the reason that they are taking these steps now is what I said. The government already sees them as a source of danger,” he emphasized.
The charges against the Culture Ministry officials and the arrests in the Coast Guard were brought after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appointed Kamran Aliyev as the country’s new Prosecutor General and launching a series of arrests of executive officials around the country (Caucasus Watch reported).
