OCCRP: Aliev's family earned 64 million US dollars on manat devaluation

In 2015, the banks associated with the family of President Ilham Aliev earned more than 64 million US dollars on the devaluation of the manat, says the report of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), released on June 6.

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that in February 2015 the Central Bank of Azerbaijan reduced manat exchange rate with US dollar by about a third; and in December 2015, the national currency got depreciated by 50% within one day.

According to the OCCRP, large amount from depreciation of the manat were earned by the Caspian Development Bank, the AtaBank and the Pasha Bank. All of them are linked to family of President of Azerbaijan, the OCCRP has stated.

The transactions, conducted by these banks a few days or weeks before the devaluation of the manat, brought them more than 64 million US dollars. Thus, the banks could have known in advance about the devaluation, concludes the OCCRP, as the RBC reports.

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of the President of Azerbaijan, his family members, or owners of the above banks on the OCCRP's report.

Let us remind you that the journalist Khadija Ismayilova was also investigating facts of large-scale corruption in the higher echelons of power in Azerbaijan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.