In the Panama papers, there is a whole chapter devoted to the family of the President of Azerbaijan that traces a complicated system of offshore companies, Prosperous Armenia MP Mikael Melkumyan said in his speech during the discussion on Panama Papers at the autumn session of PACE.

“There are offshore companies, but other electronic and banking tools are also being used. The international community and governments must unite to tackle all the problems that have been raised. It is impossible to do that if some countries, such as Azerbaijan, have heads of State who are involved in illicit practices and who trigger wars to hide those illicit practices. That was the case with the war between 2 and 5 April on the frontline between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has been installed indefinitely as president as a result of a recent referendum,” he said in a statement.

The MP argued that it is not impossible to have democracy in our region, and there is a need to look more closely at this phenomenon.

“In the Panama papers, there is a whole chapter devoted to the family of the President of Azerbaijan that traces a complicated system of offshore companies. These documents show how Fazil Mammadov, the Azerbaijani minister for tax, set up at a holding – a conglomerate – that involves the Aliyev family. The holding has interests in the banking, mineral, telecommunications, construction, gas and oil sectors; of course, the country has a wealth of natural resources.

Using Mossack Fonseca as an intermediary, Mr Mammadov created two companies, Financial Management Holdings and UF Universe Foundation. The second of those two companies is under the control of Mehriban Aliyeva. FM Holdings also has a company under its ownership in the United Kingdom, and 41% of the shares belong to AtaHolding. According to the Panama papers and the draft report on organised crime and corruption, President Aliyev is responsible for transferring operating rights for six gold mines in Azerbaijan to two offshore companies that belong to his daughters.”