A court hearing was held on the criminal case of Bahruz Asgarov, the former Chairman of the Board of the public legal entity "Nakhchivan State Automobile Roads Agency" (AAYDA).
Modern.az reports that the testimony of the accused was heard at the session held at the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Court for Grave Crimes, chaired by Judge Arzuyar Karimov.
The defendant Bahruz Asgarov stated that he was appointed as the general director of "Nakhchivan State Automobile Roads Company" in 2009:
"Later, I served as the Chairman of the Board of the public legal entity. The institution had 8 departments, and no one said anything to me until I was dismissed. Inspections were carried out by the Ministry of Finance, and I did not participate in any of them. Inspections that should have taken place in 2018 for some departments were initiated in 2023.
Orders came to us from the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, and accordingly, money was allocated based on "Form 2"s. Sabuhi Mammadov was aware of the allocated funds. Hicran Rustamov, the chairman of the Architecture Committee, would place the order, we would go and inspect, and measure. An additional 12 percent was added to the funds allocated for road construction. Then, there was a monthly meeting where I reported on the work I had done. After that, Prime Minister Sabuhi Mammadov would sign a decree, and the money would be allocated.
The directors of the road departments would bring 10 percent of the money allocated for the respective road to me, and I would deliver it to Hicran Rustamov on the very same day. He, in turn, would deliver the money to Seymur Talibov (Vasif Talibov's son - ed.). This continued until 2022. The other two percent went to bank expenses.
As for the "bonuses" and packages we received, we received them because our salaries were low. For example, an engineer received 350 manats, and other employees received less salary; the bonuses we received were given for the work we did. This was an instruction from the Chairman of the Supreme Assembly. The Ministry of Finance was aware of all the money".
The accused stated that in 2023, an employee named Mubariz from the Ministry of Finance came to him:
"When Mubariz came to me, he brought someone named Javid with him. He stated that 20,000 manats would be paid to him, and they would check the asphalt thickness. I informed the Cabinet of Ministers, I informed and protested to Finance Minister Hasan Ismayilov. Then Mubariz said, 'You'll see, we'll cause trouble for you.' I said that I was afraid of anything outside of the tender, and they became stubborn. Until Fuad Najafli arrived, I was receiving a salary of about 2,000 manats. He called Baku, we sent a representative as a delegate, and our salaries were balanced according to their salaries.
I consider myself partially guilty. If I had known it would be like this, I would not have worked here from the beginning".
The court adjourned the next session until May 1.
It should be noted that Bahruz Asgarov has been charged under Articles 179.4 (Embezzlement, especially when committed with causing damage on a large scale) and 313 (Official forgery) of the Criminal Code, and a pre-trial detention measure has been chosen against him.
(Report)
