Sensational arrest in Azerbaijan – regional executive head detained for corruption for first time
The head of the executive branch of Agstafa region in Azerbaijan, Nizameddin Guliyev, has been detained by members of the state security service, allegedly on charges of corruption and theft committed during his time serving as an executive head in Goranboy region.
• Torture, kidnapping, fabricated cases: former prosecutor of Georgia under the spotlight
• Op-ed: what’s happening in Azerbaijan – a revolution from above or image correction?
The case is unprecedented in Azerbaijan giving the high-level of the official involved. Although detentions and arrests of high-ranking officials have happened before, never before have the heads of the executive branch been openly accused of embezzlement and bribery.
There are no official statements yet, but many local media have already written about the detention.
Some of them tried to find out the reasons and details on their own, while others are calculating the property value of the official.
Appropriation of funds and roads lacking asphalt
In April 2019, Nizameddin Guliyev was appointed head of the executive branch of the Agstafa region of Azerbaijan. Before that, he headed the Goranboy region for 10 years. Modern.az writes the Ministry of Finance found out that while in his post Guliyev regularly appropriated state funds. In particular, he fictitiously hired 300 people, and took their salaries for himself. He also appropriated money allocated for paving streets in the city of Goranboy, and asphalted only the central street.
Other details of this case are not yet known.
A dangerous position
The heads of the executive branch in Azerbaijan are practically the owners of a district or city with wide-reaching authority. Often local residents are dissatisfied with them, and a couple of times this has had serious criminal consequences.
For example, in 2013, riots broke out in Ismayilli region – many say this was due to the behavior and arbitrary exercise of power in the region.
And in July 2018, an attempt was made on the head of the executive branch of the city of Ganji. According to the official account, the attempt was organized by Islamic extremists, but the “popular” version claimed that, again, this was a reaction to abuse of power.
