Vidadi Zeynalov Asks for His Property to Be Put Up For Sale to Pay For Damages Caused to State

Summary: 25th hearing

➢ Defendant Vidadi Zeynalov’s lawyer Elkhan Suleymanov lodged a motion to conduct forensic engineering, while Zeynalov’s other lawyer Baylar Mamishov filed a repeat motion to lift arrest on his client’s property. The presiding judge said the actions would be considered after the stage of document examination;
➢ The statements of the witnesses, who failed to appear in court for valid reasons, were deemed declared;
➢ The stage of document review started.

On 22 February, Baku Grave Crimes Court, chaired by Judge Afgan Hajiyev, held another hearing on the criminal case against the former Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies (MCHT) Vidadi Zeynalov and ten other defendants

Compass LLC employee Rauf Babayev testified as a witness at the hearing. He noted that they had carried out money transfers. According to him, the company he worked for had had different projects with the ministry of communications and had been paid for the construction materials provided to the department. The witness confirmed his investigation statement.

After that, the presiding judge invited defendant Vidadi Zeynalov to give testimony. Zeynalov’s lawyer Jeyhun Yusifov said his client would testify after the questioning of additional witnesses.

Zeynalov’s other lawyer Elkhan Suleymanov lodged a motion for forensic engineering, justifying his request with inconsistencies in the acts drawn up after the inspections carried out by experts of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Taxes during the period of investigation. Suleymanov considered those actions to be biased. He brought the inconsistencies in the inspections done by the experts, particularly those relating to calculations of the damage caused to the state, to the court’s notice.

Vidadi Zeynalov’s lawyer Baylar Mamishov filed a repeat motion to lift arrest on his client’s property. Expressing their disagreement with the inflicted damage as mentioned in the indictment bill, the lawyer noted that they had their version of inflicted damage which they admitted. To pay that damage caused to the state, Mamishov asked the court to lift arrest on one residential and two non-residential properties of Zeynalov located in Narimanov and Nasimi districts of Baku. The lawyer stressed that the total value of those assets was AZN 12,000,000, according to expert estimations (Note that, Vidadi Zeynalov’s 67 properties, together valued at more than AZN 43,000,000, have been attached).

The presiding judge said the motions would be considered after the stage of document examination.

The statements of the witnesses, who failed to appear in court for valid reasons, were deemed declared.

The stage of document examination started. Vidadi Zeynalov protested the expert examination acts. He noted that the inconsistencies in those expert reports could only be examined in the event of questioning the experts, who had rendered those reports, in court. Document examination continued after the break, in the second half of the day. 43 of the 512 volumes were examined. Due to the multitude of the volumes in the case file, the next hearing was set for 24 February, 10.30am.
Background: The following former senior officials of the ICT Ministry and its affiliate agencies are on the dock in a high-profile corruption case: former Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies Vidadi Zeynalov, former Director General of Baku Telephone Communications Production Association (BTCPA) Beytulla Huseynov, Director of Communications Repair & Construction No.3 LLC and Repair & Supply Service LLC Emin Mammadov, chief accountant of these LLCs Anar Mustafayev, Director General of Aztelekom LLC Mahammad Mammadov, chief accountant of the LLC Oktay Rustamov, Director General of AzInTelekom LLC Jalil Jafarov, Director General of Azerpost LLC Gambar Baybalayev, Director of Optical Communications, Construction and Installation LLC Namazali Mammadov, chief accountant of the LLC Sahrab Humbatov, and Director of Baku Communications Repair & Construction LLC and Repair & Supply Service LLC Bayram Valiyev.

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