IOLR

Intigam Safaraliyev, director of the AzFinance investment company and well-known financier, has been arrested, oxu.az reports. He is accused of large-scale fraud. The victim in the case is Tale Heydarov, the son of Azerbaijan’s Minister of Emergency Situations, Colonel General Kamaladdin Heydarov.

According to the investigation, Safaraliyev, through abuse of trust and false promises, obtained over 1 million manat from Heydarov.

Based on a complaint filed, the financier has been remanded in custody.

He has been charged under Article 178.4 (fraud committed with damage on an especially large scale) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which carries a prison sentence of 10 to 14 years.

Safaraliev himself denies guilt. During preliminary interrogations, he stated that he committed no unlawful acts against the victim.

Intigam Safaraliev has headed AzFinance since 2019. With over 15 years of experience in asset management, he also served on the Supervisory Board of AFB Bank (reportedly affiliated with the Heydarov family) and held a number of other management positions.

The trial has begun in the criminal case against Murad Khudiyev and Bahruz Akberov, accused of laundering money obtained from online gambling. As reported by Oxu.Az, the state prosecutor read out the indictment at a hearing chaired by Judge Aygun Gurbanova of the Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

According to the indictment, the defendants laundered a total of 41,223,167 manat obtained from illegal gambling and transferred it to various bank cards. M. Khudiyev and B. Akberov testified and pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The next court hearing is scheduled for April 13.

It should be noted that the Main Anti-Corruption Directorate under the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted investigative operations based on information received regarding the organization of online gambling and related illegal activities.

M. Khudiyev and B. Akberov have been charged under Articles 193-1.3.1 (laundering of property obtained through criminal means – committed by an organized group), 193-1.3.2 (laundering of property obtained through criminal means, committed on a significant scale), and 244-1.4 (organization and conduct of gambling by an organized group, committed for the purpose of generating income on an especially large scale) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.