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AZERBAIJAN’S CZECH ENCLAVE
https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-indepth/1666-azerbaijans-czech-enclave
Thursday, 11 October 2012 12:46
By Pavla Holcova, Khadija Ismayilova and Jaromir Hason
At Heydar Aliyev Airport in Baku, you can always count on the
business class checkin line at the Azerbaijan Airlines Prague flight
being just as long as the one for economy class.
That’s because Azerbaijan's ruling clique have made the Czech
Republic a favored destination in recent years.
They have come not just as high-end tourists to see its rich
historical sites and natural beauty - but as investors as well.
Officials of oil-rich Azerbaijan, including members of the Aliyev
ruling family, have established companies in Prague, bought land, and
built hotels and luxury villas most of them focused around in the
famous spa city of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad).
The problem is that some of these investments are illegal.
The full extent of their investment became clear after reporters for
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) examined
the Czech property and company records of prominent Azeris. The
political elite, it appears, has been playing a real life game of
Monopoly in a race to acquire properties in the heart of the European
Union.
There is a historic precedent to the Azeri’s love of Karlovy
Vary, famous for its natural springs, resorts, and high-quality
glass. The picturesque town close to the German border in the
western part of the Czech Republic has been an exclusive hideaway for
the Russian ruling clique since 1711 when Czar Peter the Great came
for treatment in its healing waters. Powerful and wealthy Russians
continue to rest and mend amidst its expensive golf courses and
spectacular spa colonnades. Most services, especially the high end
ones, are offered in the Russian language. The local Czech hockey
team at one point considered joining Russia’s national hockey
league, and for most Czechs, Karlovy Vary signifies close and
friendly ties with Russia.
A Family Affair
“Azeris know Karlovy Vary well,” said Jan Hornik, a Czech
Senator. “Their [Azeri] Prime Minister told me once his trips
to the town were more business than leisure because he met half the
Azeri government there.”
The connections start with the first family. Arzu Aliyeva, one of
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s two daughters has been the sole
shareholder of a central Prague-based company called ZODIAC
Immobilienbesitz since 2006.
A listing in the Czech land registry shows that the firm owns a
€1 million villa in a luxury neighborhood in Karlovy Vary.
zodiac2 The Azeri president’s daughter owns a luxury villa in
the spa town of Karlovy Vary
When reporters visited the hilly and posh residential neighborhood,
the villa looked well cared for, but empty. No one answered the
doorbell.
The headquarters of Aliyeva's company are inside the Prague law
offices of Alfery-Hrdina, a firm that does audit, tax and legal
services according to a flyer. Pavel Alfery-Hrdina, a firm's
representative, refused to talk about Aliyeva's company or any
client’s business.
Arzu Aliyeva is not the only family member with ownership of Czech
businesses either. Her maternal grandfather, Arif Pashayev, owns
another Prague and Karlovy Vary-based company, RETRO-INTER. Pashayev
officially runs the National Aviation Academy. According to US
diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks, however, the extended
family plays important roles in the Azeri economy. The US cables list
the Pashayev family as the "single most powerful family in
Azerbaijan".
Pashayev controls PASHA Holding, an Azeri conglomerate involved in
insurance, banking, travel, construction and investment interests
including PASHA Bank, according to the companies website and an Ernst
and Young audit which lists him as the man with ultimate control.
The managing director is his son Mir Jamal Pashayev and the website
brags it is one of the largest new companies in Azerbaijan.
RETRO-INTER owns a number of properties in the Karlovy Vary area
including the newly erected Hotel Jeseter.
zodiac3_small Jeseter belongs to a company controlled by Arif
Pashayev, the father of Azerbaijan's first lady
Hotel Jeseter, which is finishing construction, sits on a bank facing
a dam 10 minutes from the town. A forest runs along one side and an
exclusive, gated Russian village on the other. The Russian deco style
building sits on the ruins of a former fishing house and plans call
for 30 rooms, a restaurant and two quays. The area used to be popular
with locals who came to relax and bathe, but after the only natural
swimming pool was demolished in ´90, the area lost its attractiveness
for family weekends. The hotel is controversial, with believers
seeing its opening as a chance to resuscitate the area, while
skeptics worry that its monumental and inappropriate design is out of
place and its high prices preclude ordinary Czechs from visiting.
RETRO - INTER also owns a building site, a house and an apartment in
the surrounding towns of Jeni¹ov, Mezirolí and Doubí.
The Businessman
While Arif Pashayev is the sole shareholder of RETRO-INTER, its
director is another Azeri-born Czech citizen, Fakhraddin Mirzoev who
lives in Karlovy Vary. In addition to RETRO-INTER, he is director of
Swiss-based TERMA TRAVEL GROUP. Although they operate in Karlovy
Vary, the company has a subsidiary in Prague,
GLOBAL-ACCOUNTING-SERVICES.COM which shared offices with RETRO-INTER
until a few months ago. Mirzoev is involved directly or through the
TERMA group in a half dozen other companies in the Czech Republic.
Mirzoev appears to be a successful and connected man in Azeri circles
in the Czech Republic. He drives a Porsche, established a rally team
sponsored by the TERMA TRAVEL RACING TEAM and knows important people
like Hornik, according to his Facebook page.
"I know Mr. Mirzoev, because the Azeri ambassador is my friend and
when we had dealings, the representative of TERMA TRAVEL was often
present,” said Hornik.
OCCRP reporters contacted Mirzoev who did not comment but did say "My
business is not connected to any other persons.”
Mirzoev, who was an official agent of Azerbaijan Airlines, gave the
official welcome to the first Azerbaijan Airlines flight that landed
at the Prague airport in July of 2010.
The non-stop flight between the two capitals regularly shuttles other
major Azeri businessmen who have also chosen the Czech Republic.
INFOGRAFIC-Azerbaijan-cehia_small
A Cleric in Business
Other important Azeri investors in the area are Javanshir Pashazade,
a member of parliament in Baku and his brother, Allahshukur.
Allahshukur Pashazade is Sheikh-ul Islam, Grand Mufti of the
Caucasus and the chairman of the Religious Council of the Caucasus.
He was counted in 2009 among the 500 most influential Muslim figures
in the world.
According to registration records, the brothers own a Czech company
called Aynur KV that is also based in Karlovy Vary. The firm owns an
apartment complex in the center of Karlovy Vary.
Through his driver, Javanshir Pashazade denied any ownership of Czech
businesses.
zodiac6_small Allahshukur Pashazade, the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus,
owns an apartment complex in the Czech Republic
Allahshukur Pashazade is a controversial figure in the Azeri media.
The government-friendly religious leader, who frequently pledges
Muslim loyalty to Ilham Aliyev, is known in Azerbaijan for his
connection to Ali Evsen, a Turkish businessman currently under arrest
in Spain for his alleged involvement in a money laundering operation
for Hussein Salem, a confidante of former Egyptian leader Hosni
Mubarak. Evsen's businesses have been previously investigated here by
OCCRP . Pashazade’s son is married to Evsen’s daughter.
Azer Rashidoghlu, chairman of the "Tolerant" Center for Social
Studies said the Grand Mufti should step down if the information is
true.
"There were lots of talks about a lack of transparency in The Board
of Caucasus Muslims and the business activity of Sheikh-ul Islam. He
always denied his involvement in business. He denied, because he knew
that it is not appropriate. It is indeed not appropriate.”
Rashidoghlu said such ownership sets up a fundamental conflict of
interest.
“If religious figure is dealing with business, especially in
the countries like Azerbaijan, he is risking facing a choice between
his business interests and the interests of Muslims.”
Rashidoghlu says that may have already happened. The Grand Mufti has
not defended Muslim rights against the President such as a ban on
hijab in schools and the shutdown of mosques, he said.
“Instead, he always pledged support to president and his family
in order to be able to continue his business and to invest abroad."
Javanshir Pashazade’s ownership is illegal under Azeri law
according to one expert.
zodiac4_small Brothers Javanshir and Allahshukur Pashazade, one a
Parlamentarian and the other the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, own an
apartment complex in Karlovy Vary
“Parliament members must not run businesses. It is prohibited
by law. So if they own the business, they violate the law,”
said Vasif Movsumov, executive director of the Anti-Corruption
Foundation, a Baku based civil society organization. “The law
restricts business activity - no matter, if it is inside or outside
the country - of the parliament members.”
They are not the only ones. OCCRP previously reported that Arzu
Aliyeva along with her sister, Leyla and their mother Mehriban
Aliyeva, own a slew of Panama-based companies through which they
secretly control gold fields, a mobile phone company, a construction
company and other high stake investments back in Azerbaijan. Mehriban
Aliyeva is also a member of parliament. Calls and emails to the
government seeking comment were not returned.
“They are supposed to submit declarations and declare that they
stopped their business activity. Since that was not the case, it is a
clear indication of corruption.” Movsumov said.
The apartment complex the Pashazades own through their firm is set in
the hills overseeing the center of Karlovy Vary and sits near one of
the most famous hotels in the region, the Hotel Imperial. This hotel,
built in the early 20th Century hosted celebrities including the
Russian Emperor Paul I, music composer Richard Strauss, Indian
maharajas and Hollywood stars. The complex is surrounded by narrow
streets with old houses and the original tessellated pavement.
The permitting and construction of the modern apartment complex right
in the middle of the historic center of Karlovy Vary was
controversial. The modern architecture contrasts with the unique and
picturesque surrounding buildings. The original building design was
a story higher, but was lowered in the face of local protests says a
local journalist, Jaroslav Dolina, who has followed the case for his
newspaper Karlovarsky Denik. The complex is still partially empty and
banners offering luxury apartments hang outside. Most of the names on
the doorbells appear to be Russian.
Other MPs in Business
Another member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Adil Aliyev and his
brother Allahverdi Aliyev, also do business in the Czech Republic.
Adil Aliyev is a shareholder in a company called West End Centre.
This company owns land in the western outskirts of Karlovy Vary.
Allahverdi Aliyev’s family started a company called RAN Ltd in
2003 at the same Karlovy Vary address where two TERMA TRAVEL GROUP
companies were based.
zodiac5_small A number of Azeri connected companies are located at a
downtown building in Karlovy Vary
Back in Azerbaijan, the brothers built their career in the police
forces under the leadership of a third older brother, Maharram
Aliyev, a former chief of the Baku police department and currently
the ambassador of Azerbaijan in Tajikistan. Adil Aliyev, who is also
president of the Kickboxing and Muai-Tai Federation, entered
Parliament in 2005 after leaving his job as a district police chief.
Allahverdi Aliyev, who used to also be a mid-level official in the
Ministry of Interior, shares ownership of his businesses, RAN Ltd.
together with his wife, Tamara and son, Ruslan Aliyev. The son,
according to an interview he gave to Azeri media, is the director of
the Ateshgah Insurance group, owned by the State Oil Company of
Azerbaijan. Adil Aliyev did not deny ownership of the businesses.
"I can't say anything in this regard. I have lots of relatives in
Czech Republic and they have many companies in Czech Republic. That
is not a secret".
He said he is aware of the legislation that prohibits Members of
Parliament to run businesses but refused to comment further on the
issue.
Their RAN Ltd owns a house in the city center of Cheb, an old Czech
town with a long Czech-German history about 43 km from Karlovy Vary.
It also owns shares in an apartment complex in Doubi.
https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-indepth/1666-azerbaijans-czech-enclave
Thursday, 11 October 2012 12:46
By Pavla Holcova, Khadija Ismayilova and Jaromir Hason
At Heydar Aliyev Airport in Baku, you can always count on the
business class checkin line at the Azerbaijan Airlines Prague flight
being just as long as the one for economy class.
That’s because Azerbaijan's ruling clique have made the Czech
Republic a favored destination in recent years.
They have come not just as high-end tourists to see its rich
historical sites and natural beauty - but as investors as well.
Officials of oil-rich Azerbaijan, including members of the Aliyev
ruling family, have established companies in Prague, bought land, and
built hotels and luxury villas most of them focused around in the
famous spa city of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad).
The problem is that some of these investments are illegal.
The full extent of their investment became clear after reporters for
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) examined
the Czech property and company records of prominent Azeris. The
political elite, it appears, has been playing a real life game of
Monopoly in a race to acquire properties in the heart of the European
Union.
There is a historic precedent to the Azeri’s love of Karlovy
Vary, famous for its natural springs, resorts, and high-quality
glass. The picturesque town close to the German border in the
western part of the Czech Republic has been an exclusive hideaway for
the Russian ruling clique since 1711 when Czar Peter the Great came
for treatment in its healing waters. Powerful and wealthy Russians
continue to rest and mend amidst its expensive golf courses and
spectacular spa colonnades. Most services, especially the high end
ones, are offered in the Russian language. The local Czech hockey
team at one point considered joining Russia’s national hockey
league, and for most Czechs, Karlovy Vary signifies close and
friendly ties with Russia.
A Family Affair
“Azeris know Karlovy Vary well,” said Jan Hornik, a Czech
Senator. “Their [Azeri] Prime Minister told me once his trips
to the town were more business than leisure because he met half the
Azeri government there.”
The connections start with the first family. Arzu Aliyeva, one of
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s two daughters has been the sole
shareholder of a central Prague-based company called ZODIAC
Immobilienbesitz since 2006.
A listing in the Czech land registry shows that the firm owns a
€1 million villa in a luxury neighborhood in Karlovy Vary.
zodiac2 The Azeri president’s daughter owns a luxury villa in
the spa town of Karlovy Vary
When reporters visited the hilly and posh residential neighborhood,
the villa looked well cared for, but empty. No one answered the
doorbell.
The headquarters of Aliyeva's company are inside the Prague law
offices of Alfery-Hrdina, a firm that does audit, tax and legal
services according to a flyer. Pavel Alfery-Hrdina, a firm's
representative, refused to talk about Aliyeva's company or any
client’s business.
Arzu Aliyeva is not the only family member with ownership of Czech
businesses either. Her maternal grandfather, Arif Pashayev, owns
another Prague and Karlovy Vary-based company, RETRO-INTER. Pashayev
officially runs the National Aviation Academy. According to US
diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks, however, the extended
family plays important roles in the Azeri economy. The US cables list
the Pashayev family as the "single most powerful family in
Azerbaijan".
Pashayev controls PASHA Holding, an Azeri conglomerate involved in
insurance, banking, travel, construction and investment interests
including PASHA Bank, according to the companies website and an Ernst
and Young audit which lists him as the man with ultimate control.
The managing director is his son Mir Jamal Pashayev and the website
brags it is one of the largest new companies in Azerbaijan.
RETRO-INTER owns a number of properties in the Karlovy Vary area
including the newly erected Hotel Jeseter.
zodiac3_small Jeseter belongs to a company controlled by Arif
Pashayev, the father of Azerbaijan's first lady
Hotel Jeseter, which is finishing construction, sits on a bank facing
a dam 10 minutes from the town. A forest runs along one side and an
exclusive, gated Russian village on the other. The Russian deco style
building sits on the ruins of a former fishing house and plans call
for 30 rooms, a restaurant and two quays. The area used to be popular
with locals who came to relax and bathe, but after the only natural
swimming pool was demolished in ´90, the area lost its attractiveness
for family weekends. The hotel is controversial, with believers
seeing its opening as a chance to resuscitate the area, while
skeptics worry that its monumental and inappropriate design is out of
place and its high prices preclude ordinary Czechs from visiting.
RETRO - INTER also owns a building site, a house and an apartment in
the surrounding towns of Jeni¹ov, Mezirolí and Doubí.
The Businessman
While Arif Pashayev is the sole shareholder of RETRO-INTER, its
director is another Azeri-born Czech citizen, Fakhraddin Mirzoev who
lives in Karlovy Vary. In addition to RETRO-INTER, he is director of
Swiss-based TERMA TRAVEL GROUP. Although they operate in Karlovy
Vary, the company has a subsidiary in Prague,
GLOBAL-ACCOUNTING-SERVICES.COM which shared offices with RETRO-INTER
until a few months ago. Mirzoev is involved directly or through the
TERMA group in a half dozen other companies in the Czech Republic.
Mirzoev appears to be a successful and connected man in Azeri circles
in the Czech Republic. He drives a Porsche, established a rally team
sponsored by the TERMA TRAVEL RACING TEAM and knows important people
like Hornik, according to his Facebook page.
"I know Mr. Mirzoev, because the Azeri ambassador is my friend and
when we had dealings, the representative of TERMA TRAVEL was often
present,” said Hornik.
OCCRP reporters contacted Mirzoev who did not comment but did say "My
business is not connected to any other persons.”
Mirzoev, who was an official agent of Azerbaijan Airlines, gave the
official welcome to the first Azerbaijan Airlines flight that landed
at the Prague airport in July of 2010.
The non-stop flight between the two capitals regularly shuttles other
major Azeri businessmen who have also chosen the Czech Republic.
INFOGRAFIC-Azerbaijan-cehia_small
A Cleric in Business
Other important Azeri investors in the area are Javanshir Pashazade,
a member of parliament in Baku and his brother, Allahshukur.
Allahshukur Pashazade is Sheikh-ul Islam, Grand Mufti of the
Caucasus and the chairman of the Religious Council of the Caucasus.
He was counted in 2009 among the 500 most influential Muslim figures
in the world.
According to registration records, the brothers own a Czech company
called Aynur KV that is also based in Karlovy Vary. The firm owns an
apartment complex in the center of Karlovy Vary.
Through his driver, Javanshir Pashazade denied any ownership of Czech
businesses.
zodiac6_small Allahshukur Pashazade, the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus,
owns an apartment complex in the Czech Republic
Allahshukur Pashazade is a controversial figure in the Azeri media.
The government-friendly religious leader, who frequently pledges
Muslim loyalty to Ilham Aliyev, is known in Azerbaijan for his
connection to Ali Evsen, a Turkish businessman currently under arrest
in Spain for his alleged involvement in a money laundering operation
for Hussein Salem, a confidante of former Egyptian leader Hosni
Mubarak. Evsen's businesses have been previously investigated here by
OCCRP . Pashazade’s son is married to Evsen’s daughter.
Azer Rashidoghlu, chairman of the "Tolerant" Center for Social
Studies said the Grand Mufti should step down if the information is
true.
"There were lots of talks about a lack of transparency in The Board
of Caucasus Muslims and the business activity of Sheikh-ul Islam. He
always denied his involvement in business. He denied, because he knew
that it is not appropriate. It is indeed not appropriate.”
Rashidoghlu said such ownership sets up a fundamental conflict of
interest.
“If religious figure is dealing with business, especially in
the countries like Azerbaijan, he is risking facing a choice between
his business interests and the interests of Muslims.”
Rashidoghlu says that may have already happened. The Grand Mufti has
not defended Muslim rights against the President such as a ban on
hijab in schools and the shutdown of mosques, he said.
“Instead, he always pledged support to president and his family
in order to be able to continue his business and to invest abroad."
Javanshir Pashazade’s ownership is illegal under Azeri law
according to one expert.
zodiac4_small Brothers Javanshir and Allahshukur Pashazade, one a
Parlamentarian and the other the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, own an
apartment complex in Karlovy Vary
“Parliament members must not run businesses. It is prohibited
by law. So if they own the business, they violate the law,”
said Vasif Movsumov, executive director of the Anti-Corruption
Foundation, a Baku based civil society organization. “The law
restricts business activity - no matter, if it is inside or outside
the country - of the parliament members.”
They are not the only ones. OCCRP previously reported that Arzu
Aliyeva along with her sister, Leyla and their mother Mehriban
Aliyeva, own a slew of Panama-based companies through which they
secretly control gold fields, a mobile phone company, a construction
company and other high stake investments back in Azerbaijan. Mehriban
Aliyeva is also a member of parliament. Calls and emails to the
government seeking comment were not returned.
“They are supposed to submit declarations and declare that they
stopped their business activity. Since that was not the case, it is a
clear indication of corruption.” Movsumov said.
The apartment complex the Pashazades own through their firm is set in
the hills overseeing the center of Karlovy Vary and sits near one of
the most famous hotels in the region, the Hotel Imperial. This hotel,
built in the early 20th Century hosted celebrities including the
Russian Emperor Paul I, music composer Richard Strauss, Indian
maharajas and Hollywood stars. The complex is surrounded by narrow
streets with old houses and the original tessellated pavement.
The permitting and construction of the modern apartment complex right
in the middle of the historic center of Karlovy Vary was
controversial. The modern architecture contrasts with the unique and
picturesque surrounding buildings. The original building design was
a story higher, but was lowered in the face of local protests says a
local journalist, Jaroslav Dolina, who has followed the case for his
newspaper Karlovarsky Denik. The complex is still partially empty and
banners offering luxury apartments hang outside. Most of the names on
the doorbells appear to be Russian.
Other MPs in Business
Another member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Adil Aliyev and his
brother Allahverdi Aliyev, also do business in the Czech Republic.
Adil Aliyev is a shareholder in a company called West End Centre.
This company owns land in the western outskirts of Karlovy Vary.
Allahverdi Aliyev’s family started a company called RAN Ltd in
2003 at the same Karlovy Vary address where two TERMA TRAVEL GROUP
companies were based.
zodiac5_small A number of Azeri connected companies are located at a
downtown building in Karlovy Vary
Back in Azerbaijan, the brothers built their career in the police
forces under the leadership of a third older brother, Maharram
Aliyev, a former chief of the Baku police department and currently
the ambassador of Azerbaijan in Tajikistan. Adil Aliyev, who is also
president of the Kickboxing and Muai-Tai Federation, entered
Parliament in 2005 after leaving his job as a district police chief.
Allahverdi Aliyev, who used to also be a mid-level official in the
Ministry of Interior, shares ownership of his businesses, RAN Ltd.
together with his wife, Tamara and son, Ruslan Aliyev. The son,
according to an interview he gave to Azeri media, is the director of
the Ateshgah Insurance group, owned by the State Oil Company of
Azerbaijan. Adil Aliyev did not deny ownership of the businesses.
"I can't say anything in this regard. I have lots of relatives in
Czech Republic and they have many companies in Czech Republic. That
is not a secret".
He said he is aware of the legislation that prohibits Members of
Parliament to run businesses but refused to comment further on the
issue.
Their RAN Ltd owns a house in the city center of Cheb, an old Czech
town with a long Czech-German history about 43 km from Karlovy Vary.
It also owns shares in an apartment complex in Doubi.