{"id":3917,"date":"2017-09-05T17:21:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T14:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anticorr.media\/?p=3917"},"modified":"2017-09-07T10:58:54","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T07:58:54","slug":"azerbajdzhanskaya-stiralnaya-mashina-rukovodstvo-strany-otmylo-3-mlrd-davaya-vzyatki-evropejskim-politikam-i-zhurnalistam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anticorr.media\/en\/azerbajdzhanskaya-stiralnaya-mashina-rukovodstvo-strany-otmylo-3-mlrd-davaya-vzyatki-evropejskim-politikam-i-zhurnalistam\/","title":{"rendered":"UK at centre of secret $3bn Azerbaijani money laundering and lobbying scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

This material belongs to: The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exclusive:\u00a0Leaked data reveals thousands of covert payments, including to European politicians and journalists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s ruling elite operated a secret $2.9 bln (\u00a32.2 bln) scheme to pay prominent Europeans, buy luxury goods and launder money through a network of opaque British companies, an investigation by the Guardian<\/a> reveals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leaked data shows that the Azerbaijani leadership, accused of serial human rights abuses, systemic corruption and rigging elections, made more than 16,000 covert payments from 2012 to 2014.<\/p>\n

Some of this money went to politicians and journalists,\u00a0as part of an international lobbying operation<\/a>\u00a0to deflect criticism of Azerbaijan\u2019s president, Ilham Aliyev<\/a>, and to promote a positive image of his oil-rich country. There is no suggestion that all the recipients were aware of the original source of the money. It arrived via a disguised route.<\/p>\n

But the revelations once again highlight the use of the\u00a0lightly regulated British corporate landscape<\/a>\u00a0to move large sums of money around, beyond the purview of regulators and tax authorities. Seven million pounds was spent in Britain on luxury goods and private school fees.<\/p>\n

The cash, contributed by an opaque array of paymasters in Azerbaijan and Russia, traveled to the British companies \u2013 all limited partnerships registered at\u00a0Companies House in London<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 via the western financial system without raising red flags. One of Europe\u2019s leading banks, Danske<\/a>, processed the payments via its branch office in Estonia.<\/p>\n

Danske Bank said \u201cmoney laundering and other illegal practices\u201d had taken place. It first noticed the irregular payments in 2014. Estonia\u2019s financial regulator said systems designed to stop money laundering at the branch had failed.<\/p>\n

The scheme has been nicknamed the Azerbaijani Laundromat. Confidential banking records were leaked to the\u00a0Danish newspaper Berlingske<\/a>\u00a0and shared with the\u00a0Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)<\/a>, the Guardian, and other media partners. The data covers a 30-month period. It may show the tip of an iceberg.<\/p>\n

The politicians<\/h3>\n

The leaked bank records show multiple payments to several former members of the\u00a0Council of Europe\u2019s parliamentary assembly<\/a>, Pace. One is\u00a0Eduard Lintner<\/a>, a German ex-MP and member of the Christian Social Union<\/a>, the Bavarian sister party to Angela Merkel<\/a>\u2019s ruling Christian Democrats<\/a>. Another is the Italian former chair of the centre-right group in Pace<\/a>,\u00a0Luca Volont\u00e8<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The payments came at a time when Azerbaijan was under fire for arresting human rights activists and journalists, and for holding rigged elections. The regime\u00a0sought to blunt criticism from Europe and the US by allegedly bribing delegates<\/a>\u00a0in what has been called\u00a0\u201ccaviar diplomacy\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This intensive lobbying operation was so successful that Council of Europe members\u00a0voted against<\/a>\u00a0a 2013 report critical of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Lintner stood down as an MP in 2010, but remained a firm supporter of Azerbaijan. He founded the Society for the Promotion of German-Azerbaijani Relations<\/a> in Berlin, which received \u20ac819,500 (\u00a3755,000). One \u20ac61,000 payment was made two weeks after Lintner returned to Berlin from a trip to\u00a0Azerbaijan<\/a> where he monitored the country\u2019s 2013 presidential election. He said the poll was up to \u201cGerman standards\u201d \u2013 in direct contrast to official election observers who found \u201csignificant problems\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lintner says he received the money for his society, did not personally benefit, and was not an MP or Council of Europe member at the time. An Azerbaijani NGO paid for his election trip, he says. He says he has no knowledge of the original source of the payments received.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Luca Volont\u00e8. Source: Vano Shlamov\/AFP\/Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Details of cash given to Volont\u00e8 emerged in 2016 and\u00a0caused outrage<\/a>. He received more than \u20ac2m in installments via his Italian-based Novae Terrae<\/a> foundation. Prosecutors in Milan have indicted him for money laundering and corruption.<\/p>\n

Volont\u00e8 denies wrongdoing. He is seeking to have the case thrown out.<\/p>\n

The data also shows money being paid via the British companies to Kalin Mitrev<\/a>, a Bulgarian appointed last year to the board of the\u00a0London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development<\/a>. Mitrev received at least \u20ac425,000 for private consulting work from a local Azeri company, Avuar Co. He acknowledges the payments and says they were for legitimate business consultancy. He denies all knowledge of the conduit used to execute them or the original source of the funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the income, generated by activities in different countries, was duly reported and taxed in my country of residence, Bulgaria,\u201d Mitrev said. His consultancy work stopped when he joined the London bank, he said.<\/p>\n

The revelation that her husband consulted for an Azeri company might prove awkward for Mitrev\u2019s wife,\u00a0Irina Bokova<\/a>, who is the director general of Unesco. Bokova has\u00a0bestowed one of Unesco\u2019s highest honours, the Mozart Medal<\/a>\u00a0on Azerbaijan\u2019s first lady and vice-president, Mehriban Aliyeva<\/a>. She also\u00a0hosted a photo exhibition at Unesco\u2019s headquarters in Paris<\/a>, entitled Azerbaijan \u2013 A Land of Tolerance<\/a>. The Heydar Aliyev foundation organised the event.<\/p>\n