The trial of the former head of the Finance and Budget Department of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Nizami Mammadov, the former head of the Air Force Financial Service, Colonel Jalal Kazimov, the former head of the Land Forces Financial Department Bayram Bayramov and the former head of the Navy Financial Service Vusal Alizade, who were detained for embezzlement, is continuing.
The report says that the defendants’ lawyers filed several motions in the proceedings held in the Baku Military Court under the chairmanship of Judge Fikret Aliyev.
Several requests submitted by the lawyer of the accused Jalal Kazymov, Ali Adigozalov, were not accepted.
The lawyer stated that the property of Jalal Kazimov for which he was detained was sold and 110,000 manats were transferred to the state account. The lawyer requested that the document be added to the case file. The motion is partially granted.
Vusal Alizade’s lawyer filed an appeal and said that deficiencies were discovered during the inspection carried out by inspectors of military unit “N” where the defendant worked.
“They demanded 179,000 manats from Vusal. Vusal gave them 180,000 manats. The investigation into the embezzlement has been ongoing since 2017, but the inspectors also demanded money from my client for the previous periods. From the amount owed, 180,000 and 335,000 manats should be deducted from Vusal Alizade,” the lawyer said. The court did not accept this request at the current stage.
During the trial, the lawyer of the accused Nizami Mammadov, Rashad Mirmehdizade, also submitted several requests to the court. His request is to send a request to the investigating body to find out where compensation for the damage caused in the criminal case is awarded.
The court also granted another request by the lawyer. In this motion, he said that Rafael Khalafov, the former head of the inspection department of the Finance and Budget Department of the Ministry of Defense, is one of the persons at the center of the facts of the criminal case.
“Rafail Khalafov said one word to his junior officials and another word to his senior officials. There are controversial issues as well as new questions. We have filed a petition in this regard before, but the court stated that he has his rights based on the fact. What about the rights of the accused here? How is this possible? There are conflicting issues between him and Rafail Khalafov. One of the people who should be questioned in the case is Rovshan Aliyev. Please make sure that Khalafov is questioned and let him do it,” the lawyer stated.
The prosecutor also told the person in question that he has no objections to accepting the petition if new questions arise. The motion is granted. Therefore, in the next trial, R. Khalafov will be questioned again.
Another lawyer for Nizami Mammadov noted that Malikmammad Gurbanov, who was convicted in the criminal case and tried in separate proceedings, claimed that during the years 2015-2019, during his tenure, 20 million manats were embezzled.
“He said that he gave 19.6 million manats of that money to Nakhmeddin Sadigov, and that he had 400,000 manats left. He also said that the former head of the department, Nakhmeddin Sadigov, gave him 800,000 manats to give to Nizami Mammadov. Malikmammad Gurbanov said in a statement that he gave the money to the other, he said that he sent it through an intermediary. This is not credible,” the defender said.
The next court session is scheduled for September 20.
It should be noted that Major General Nizami Mammadov, former head of the Finance and Budget Department of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Jalal Kazimov, former head of the Financial Service of the Air Force, Bayram Bayramov, former head of the financial department of the Ground Forces, Vusal Alizade, former head of the financial service of the Navy, Colonel Mahir Shirvanov, former head of the Procurement and Supply Department of the Ministry of Defense, as well as Malikmammad Gurbanov, former head of the Procurement and Supply Department of the Ministry. and Colonel Fikret Mirzayev, former head of the housing operations department of the Ministry, were arrested as a result of a special operation carried out by the State Security Service.
The defendants are accused of embezzling money from the state budget.
It should be noted that the total damage caused to the State in the criminal case amounts to 143 million manats.
The criminal cases were referred to the courts for consideration in separate proceedings. For the total damage caused to the state during the investigation period, 40 million manats were paid.
The Ministry of Finance was recognized as a victim in the criminal case. Each of the defendants was charged with Article 179.4 of the Criminal Code (especially embezzlement by causing significant damage).
