Azerbaijan Laundromat, a shameless money-laundering scheme
Recently, the investigative journalists unearthed the Azerbaijani Laundromat, a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled nearly $ 3 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the United Kingdom.
It is the concerted effort of the investigatiion conducted by several investigative reporters fromtheprominent publications like Berlingske (Denmark), OCCRP (organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), The Guardian (UK), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), Tages-Anzeiger and Tribune de Genève (Switzerland), De Tijd (Belgium), Novaya Gazeta (Russia), Dossier (Austria), Atlatszo.hu (Hungary), Delo (Slovenia), RISE Project (Romania), Bivol (Bulgaria), Aripaev (Estonia), Czech Center for Investigative Journalism (Czech Republic), and Barron's (US).
This project is part of the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, a collaboration started by OCCRP and Transparency International.
2012 to 2014, over the period of three years, Azerbaijani Government arrested activists and journalists across wide spectrum. The reason is they found out how the ruling class of Azerbaijan stashed away their ill-gotten wealth. They also paid huge sums of money to several European politicians, bought enviable luxury goods, involved in punishable money laundering activities.
Undisputable banking records shows around 2.5 billion euro (US $ 3.02 billion) in transaction have been leaked to the Danish newspaper Berlingske. In turn, it’s been shared with OCCRP. Then they organized a collaborative investigation to track down path of the money flow.
The result is the Azerbaijani Laundromat —name because huge sums that were laundered through several shell companies to hide their origin. Using this stashed wealth, they silenced their critics.
When the reporters were actively gathering the news about Azerbaijanis wrongdoing, during this period, the Azerbaijani government threw more than 90 human rights activists, opposition politicians, and journalists (such as OCCRP journalist Khadija Ismayilova) into prison on politically motivated, baseles charges. This heinous act was strongly condemned by international human rights groups.
At the same time, at least three European politicians, a journalist who wrote stories friendly to the regime, and businessmen who praised the government were among the recipients of Azerbaijani money. In some cases, these prominent individuals were able to mobilize important international organizations, such as UNESCO and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to score PR victories for the corrupt Azerbaijani regime.
The banking records in the leak — over 16,000 transactions in all — reveal that the core of the Azerbaijani Laundromat was formed by four shell companies registered in the United Kingdom. The country’s easy regulations allowed these companies to file registration paperwork that listed proxy or non-existent shareholders and disguise their true origins from the public.
Above all, the bank records show that Danske Bank, a major European financial institution, turned a blind eye to transactions that should have raised red flags. The bank’s Estonian branch handled the accounts of all four Azerbaijani Laundromat companies, allowing the billions to pass through it without investigating their propriety. Those who wants to read the detailed story of this Azerbaijan Laundromat, kindly click here.
By
Instanewsgram Staff