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Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security (MNS) was one of the clients of the Italy-based Hacking Team (HT) company, which develops malware used to spy governments or government-connected entities in different countries.

This fact became known when the company itself was subjected to hacker attack, Armenian Weekly reports.

Another interesting fact is that a curious middleman was taking part in a transaction with Hacking Team. The MNS paid $384,000 for the program but the transaction was arranged via another entity, the Horizon Global Group of Abik Charukhchev, worker in Azerbaijani Technical Institute. It’s also unusual that Charukhchev or possibly someone on his behalf, used the account opened in Glendale.

“Why would an individual, who serves as a front man for the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry’s financial dealings, go to a city that has the largest Armenian population in U.S. to open a bank account?” the article reads.

It’s logical to suppose that the account is used for purposes that somehow relate to what Ilham Aliyev’s number one enemy: the Armenian Diaspora.

Since the opening of its consulate in Los Angeles in 2006, Azerbaijan has been actively lobbying California politicians. Azerbaijani officials regularly visit California, and a number of California politicians have taken advantage of free trips to Azerbaijan.

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