Thursday, September 7, 2017
Hungary Denies Money Motive Behind Azeri Axe-Murderer's Extradition
Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev (R) meets with Hungary's Prime
Minister Viktor Orban in Baku, 30Jun2012.
The Hungarian government has reportedly denied any connection between
newly revealed cash transfers from Azerbaijan to Hungary and the 2012
release from prison of an Azerbaijani army officer who hacked to death
an Armenian colleague in Budapest.
The revelation is part of an extensive international report which
found that Azerbaijan's ruling elite used a $2.9 billion slush fund to
pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, and launder money. The
report, released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP) on Monday, says thousands of payments were channeled
through four shell companies registered in Britain between 2012 and
2014.
According to the OCCRP, more than $9 million was transferred to
Hungarian bank accounts of Velasco, an offshore company owned by a son
of Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Yaqub Eyyubov, from
2012-2013. "The company was dissolved at the request of its Hungarian
formation agency in 2015, and it is not clear where the money ended
up," says the report titled "The Azerbaijan Laundromat."
Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov, center,
receives a hero's welcome in Baku, 31Aug2012.
The report says that the first $450,000cash transfer to the Velasco
account with the Budapest-based MKB Bank was wired on July 19, 2012,
just over one month before the extradition to Azerbaijan of Ramil
Safarov, an Azerbaijani army officer who was serving a life sentence
in a Hungarian prison. A Hungarian court had convicted Safarov of
axe-murdering a sleeping Armenian officer, Gurgen Markarian, during a
NATO training course in Budapest in 2004.
Immediately after the extradition, the Azerbaijani lieutenant received
a hero's welcome in Baku. Safarov was not only pardoned by Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev but also promoted to the rank of major, granted
a free apartment and paid eight years' worth of back pay.
Safarov's release provoked a furious reaction from Armenia and strong
international criticism. Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with
Hungary in protest. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian charged in
September 2012 that corruption was at the root of the
"Azerbaijani-Hungarian deal" on Safarov.
The Hungarian government has repeatedly defended its decision to send
Safarov back to Azerbaijan, saying it stemmed from a European
convention and was not aimed at offending the Armenian people.
Hungary -- Thousands of people protest against the government's
decision to extradite soldier Ramil Safarov, in Budapest, 04Sep2012
The transfer of Azerbaijani money to the Hungarian bank exposed by the
OCCRP has rekindled suspicions that the authorities in Budapest were
paid to repaatriate the convicted murderer. Hungary's controversial
Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Baku in June 2012.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto rejected suggestions
linking Safarov's extradition to cash flows from Azerbaijan at a news
conference on Wednesday.
"In the firmest possible way, I reject any inference or insinuation
which makes a connection between Hungarian foreign policy decisions
and the aforementioned international criminal actions," Szijjarto
said, according to "The Budapest Beacon" daily. "I really hope we
uncover the truth of what happened very soon."
Thousands of Hungarians demonstrated in Budapest in September 2012 to
condemn their government's decision to hand over Safarov to
Baku. Ferenc Gyurcsany, a former Hungarian prime minister, accused
Orban's government at the time of "selling the country's honor for 30
pieces of silver." Orban brushed aside the accusations.
Armenian Mayor's Son Awarded After Deadly Car Accident
. Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (R) and Education Minister Levon
Mkrtchian (L) award a medal to Razmik Danielian, a school student
charged with causing a deadly car accident, Yerevan, 29Aug2017.
President Serzh Sarkisian has controversially awarded a medal for
academic excellence to the teenage son of an Armenian town mayor
charged with running over and killing a man with a government-owned
car.
The 16-year-old Razmik Danielian, whose father Aram has governed the
town of Hrazdan for almost 15 years, was among more than 100
schoolchildren who were awarded for their good grades on August 29. "I
want to thank you for your deep curiosity and hard work," Sarkisian
said at a ceremony held in the presidential palace in Yerevan.
The ceremony came almost three months after a 58-year-old resident of
Hrazdan, Valeri Torosian, was hit by a car and died in hospital
shortly afterwards. According to Armenia's Investigative Committee,
the car belonging to the municipal administration was driven by Razmik
Danielian and violated traffic rules.
Danielian has no driving license because of his young age. The
law-enforcement agency decided not to keep him in custody pending
investigation.
The Hrazdan mayor, who is affiliated with Sarkisian's ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), acknowledged later in June that his
son caused the deadly accident.
Sarkisian's decision to hand the state award to the delinquent
teenager has prompted strong criticism from independent Armenian media
outlets. Some media commentators have portrayed it as further proof of
impunity enjoyed by senior government officials, their cronies and
relatives.
Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian, who also attended the award
ceremony, dismissed the criticism when he spoke to reporters on
Thursday. He insisted that Sarkisian did not know that the school
student from Hrazdan is the mayor's son. Danielian and the other
students were nominated for the awards by the Education Ministry, he
said.
"Why should [the president] know or not know that? After all, the
medals are given for academic excellence," added Mkrtchian, who is a
senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), the HHK's junior coalition partner.
Meanwhile, it remains clear when the criminal investigation into the
Hrazdan accident will be completed.
"The investigation is continuing," Sona Truzian, a spokeswoman for the
Investigative Committee, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "We established that an underage person was at the
wheel and he is prosecuted as the suspect in the case."
Truzian claimed that forensic tests conducted so far produced no
definitive results on the precise circumstances of the accident and
that investigators have ordered more such tests because of that."We
need to receive a [forensic] conclusion before we can make a final
evaluation," she said. "The extent of any individual's guilt has to be
determined on the basis of forensic examinations."
Government Moves To Liberalize Armenian Energy Sector
Armenia -- A thermal power plant in Hrazdan.
The Armenian government approved on Thursday a package of draft legal
amendments designed to liberalize the country's energy sector.
A government statement said they will help to attract new "suppliers"
that will be able to engage in wholesale sales of electricity. It said
the "liberal model" for regulating the sector will also "stimulate
interstate trade" in electricity, suggesting that the new players will
be able to import or export it to neighboring Georgia and Iran.
The statement added that the resulting introduction of "certain
elements of competition" in the Armenian energy market will not only
make the sector more efficient but also benefit consumers.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet first announced plans for
such a liberalization in July. "We have already presented a plan of
actions which will ensure that the energy sector switches to a new,
liberal model by 2021," Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures Hayk
Harutiunian said at the time.
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, declared in June that
U.S. energy firms could invest billions of dollars in the sector if
the authorities in Yerevan open it up to competition and remove all
obstacles to electricity exports to Georgia and Iran.
Harutiunian said in that regard that senior officials from his
ministry already hold "regular meetings" with Mills and
U.S. businesspeople to explore possibilities of "expanding American
companies' activities in Armenia's energy sector." Harutiunian noted
that one U.S. company, ContourGlobal, already privatized Armenia's
largest hydroelectric complex two years ago in a $250 million deal
strongly backed by the U.S. government.
Russian natural gas and nuclear fuel currently generate at least 60
percent of Armenia's electricity. In addition, Russia's Gazprom
monopoly owns the country's gas distribution network.
Karapetian managed that network from 2001-2010. He held senior
executive positions in Gazprom subsidiaries in Russia before being
appointed as Armenia's prime minister in September 2016.
Karabakh Leader Sworn In For Another Term
. Hovannes Movsisian
Nagorno Karabakh - President Bako Sahakian is sworn in for another
term, 7Sep2017.
Bako Sahakian, Nagorno-Karabakh's president, was sworn in for another
term on Thursday almost two months after local lawmakers voted to
extend his decade-long rule.
Sahakian, 57, was reelected after serving two consecutive five-year
terms. He was not allowed to stay in power longer before Karabakh
enacted a new constitution in a referendum held in February.
The new constitution calls for the Armenian-populated region's
transition by 2020 to a fully presidential system of government which
will lead to the abolition of the post of prime minister. The
authorities in Stepanakert say this change will put Karabakh in a
better position to cope with the unresolved conflict with
Azerbaijan. Their opponents maintain, however that Sahakian is simply
keen to cling to power.
Sahakian will continue governing Karabakh as an interim president
until 2020. His candidacy for that post was backed in July by 28 of
the 33 members of the Karabakh parliament representing three political
parties allied to him.
Sahakian pledged to implement democratic reforms, strengthen
Karabakh's security and ensure continued economic growth of the local
economy in his speech at an inauguration ceremony held in
Stepanakert. "We are going to do everything to protect the honor and
dignity of the Armenian people," he declared.
The Karabakh leader again did not clarify whether he will run in the
next presidential election due in 2020.
Vitaly Balasanian, the secretary of Karabakh's presidential Security
Council, suggested in July that Sahakian is unlikely to seek another
reelection in 2020.
A retired army general, Balasanian was the main opposition candidate
in Karabakh's last presidential ballot held in 2012.
Press Review
"Zhoghovurd" comments on fresh wildfires that have erupted in Armenia
in recent days. "It seemed that the authorities and the Ministry for
Emergency Situations have drawn lessons from the [recent] fire in the
Khosrov forest," writes the paper. "But that was not the case." The
paper criticizes the ministry's emergency teams for their failure to
use modern equipment in battling the fires.
"Zhamanak" says statistical data released by the government shows an
increased outflow of capital from Armenia. "Saying that Serzh
Sarkisian or Karen Karapetian or other current or former officials are
to blame for this would mean saying nothing," writes the paper. "Karen
Karapetian has spoken of prospects for an investment boom, upcoming
investment programs worth $3.2 billion," writes the paper. "Where are
they? On the other hand, Armenia's entire government system is to
blame for the investment drought in the country."
"Hraparak" follows up on its revelation that the teenage son of
Hrazdan's Mayor Aram Danielian, who recently ran over and killed a man
while driving his father's car, has received a medal for academic
excellence from President Serzh Sarkisian. Ruzanna Muradian, a
parliament deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK),
assures the paper that the award must not be seen as an order to cover
up the deadly accident. "If the guy really demonstrated excellence in
his studies, the award is only aimed at taking note of that fact," she
says. "This must not be a subject of speculations."
"Haykakan Zhamanak" sees "dangerous calm" in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict zone, saying that no serious armed incidents have been
reported from the Armenian-Azerbaijani "line of contact" in the last
two months. "Azerbaijan has refrained from provoking serious incidents
on the borders for two months," the paper says. "There has been no
change of Azerbaijan's agenda. Ilham Aliyev must have had a serious
reason to take such a long break."
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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