YEREVAN ( Armenpress) — The recent revelations about Azerbaijan’s state sanctioned money-laundering and bribery scheme has uncovered some notorious details involving Baku’s relations with Hungary.
In 2012, at the same time when Hungary extradited the Azeri axe-murdered Ramil Safarov, who had killed an Armenian officer, more than 7 million dollars were transferred to a bank account under the name of an Azerbaijani official’s son in the Hungarian MKB bank.
In a report of the anti-corruption Átlátszó website, the new details prove that by extraditing Safarov, Hungary actually had a hidden agenda other than strengthening its political ties with the country.
The MKB account was linked with an offshore company, which was closely tied with the Azerbaijani government. The money was transferred to Hungary through Metastar Invest LLP to the account which was in turn linked with an offshore company called Velasco International.
It is noteworthy that the 7 million USD transaction coincided with the “expansion” of diplomatic relations between Hungary and Azerbaijan. In 2014, Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Budapest, and the sides signed an agreement on strategic cooperation. The sides went on to meet again in the future in a “warm environment”.
Metastar Invest LLP is the company which was used by Azerbaijan to pay off PACE lawmaker Luca Volonte, who is currently under investigation in Italy. Volonte himself was not only a “friend” of Azerbaijan, but also of Viktor Orban. Volonte branded the criticism against the Hungarian PM’s regime as “ a witch hunt”.
Velasco International, who owned the account in the Hungarian bank, has close ties with Hungary and Azerbaijan. The company, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, is owned by Orkhan Eyyubov, the son of Azerbaijan’s deputy PM Yakub Eyyubov.
Átlátszó revelations show that those involved included also an intelligence officer of Orban’s government, a representative of the PM’s chief advisor and other high-ranking officials.
Apparently Orban “sold” the axe-murderer to Azerbaijan for 7 million dollars.
Ramil Safarov, the notorious killer of the Armenian officer, was welcomed as a hero in Azerbaijan upon extradition.
Araks Kasyan
