Millions of influential Azerbaijani families expelled from the elite with a lead explosion to Lithuania

International investigative journalism centers OCCRP and Finance Uncovered have been working for several months to analyze leaked bank data, company documents and information in real estate registries in various countries. The Mahmudov family is estimated to have around 100 million. active in Spain, the UK, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Lithuania.

In our country, Mahmoudov’s relatives invested soon after the politician was fired from the post of minister. The relatives of the former minister not only accumulated assets here for 1.7 million. But he also received residence permits in Lithuania, which gave the family of the former Azerbaijani minister the opportunity to travel freely throughout the Schengen countries. Some of these permits were revoked after a violation of the law.

Explaining the origin of their wealth, Mahmoudov’s relatives categorically reject any activity that goes beyond the law. According to them, part of the family’s wealth was inherited from a wealthy relative who lived in the 19th century.

Expelled from the elite with a bang

Mahmoudov served as Azerbaijan’s national security minister for 11 years. The politician oversaw the intelligence sector and even contributed to the drafting of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. However, in 2015 the old President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev fired the minister, and news of his alleged accumulated wealth soon spread.

Reports of searches in the Mahmoudov village, where jars filled with diamonds and cardboard boxes laden with foreign exchange, were found in the local media. Arrests of officials related to the former minister have also been reported on charges of corruption and other crimes.

It is difficult to say how much truth was in the reports about diamond jars and cash boxes. After all, Azerbaijan has repeatedly become famous for its crackdown on critical media and ranks 168th on the media freedom index (180 countries in total). However, there is no doubt that Mahmudov’s relatives have accumulated impressive wealth while he is in power.

Millionaires in Pašilaičiai

OCCRP and Finance Uncovered reporters have found many traces of the Mahmoudov closure in leaked data from the Cayman National Bank, a bank in the Isle of Man. Analysis of the leaked information also led to Lithuania.

Here we find two companies in which Mahmoudov’s relatives accumulated considerable assets, although both companies operated at a loss. Furthermore, business in Lithuania became the reason why E. Mahmoudov’s relatives received residence permits in our country.

Up to four surnames of E. Mahmudov’s relatives appear in the companies Barkas LT and White Cat registered in Lithuania. Mahmudov’s wife, Tahira Mahmudova, and their three children, their son Anar Mahmudov, and their two daughters, Nargiz and Khuraman, have participated in the management of the two companies.

The four members of the former minister’s family indicated the same address in the company’s documents: an apartment of approximately 64 square meters in Pašilaičiai, Gabijos Street. Here in this house:

OCCRP managed to contact Vilnius, who since 2018. He owns this department. The young woman’s name is not published to protect her privacy. The interlocutor confirmed that he had bought an apartment with his kind roommates; At that time, at least three of the four Mahmudovs still officially lived on Gabija Street. The owner of the apartment said that he had never seen these people and canceled them from the registration of his house.

The OCCRP Migration Department confirmed that the four relatives of E. Mahmoudov had obtained residence permits in Lithuania. In all cases, on a commercial basis. Mahmudov’s business in Lithuania was not profitable. However, the assets accumulated in the two companies are worth a seven-digit amount.

Permits were revoked for breaking the law

According to data from the Records Center, investments by the Mahmudov family in Lithuania started around 2016, less than a year after the dismissal of the head of the family from the post of minister. 2016 In the summer of 2006 Anar Mahmoudov and his sister Khuraman became shareholders of Barkas LT. About a year later, her mother Tahira Mahmudova and sister Khuraman Mahmudova invested in the White Cat.

Business in Lithuania became the basis for Mahmudovs to apply for a residence permit in our country. This document is a kind of gateway to most European countries. After all, the holder of such a permit can freely travel through the Schengen area.

According to data from the Migration Department, the four relatives of E. Mahmoudov obtained residence permits in Lithuania in 2017. “The permits were issued on a commercial basis, they are no longer valid today,” said Loreta Tumalavičienė, OCCRP spokesperson. .

When asked to clarify the circumstances, the Migration Department indicated that the family members had lost their residence permits in Lithuania for various reasons. The permits issued to Anar and Khuraman Mahmudov expired last year because the brother and sister did not take steps to extend the validity of the documents. The family’s third offspring, Nargiz Mahmudova, and E. Mahmudov’s wife, Tahira Mahmudova, lost their permits at the initiative of the Migration Department.

“NORTH. The Mahmudova and T. Mahmudova permits were revoked in 2018,” said L. Tumalavičienė.

The Department does not state the specific reasons for the decision: it only cites a provision of the law that “a temporary residence permit for a foreigner will be revoked if it turns out that the data presented by him to obtain a residence permit do not correspond to reality, the company, whose participant or manager is a foreigner, is fictitious or does not meet the requirements of Paragraph 1 of Article 45 of this Law; there are reasonable grounds to believe that there may be a risk of illegal migration of a foreigner. “

Before Mahmudov’s investment, both companies did not show impressive performance. The companies soon accumulated great fortunes, but they did not show any miracles in the sales area. Rather the opposite.

Barkas Lt sales during 2016-2018. period amounted to only about 70 thousand. The company was operating at a loss during those years. White Cat’s results are similar. 2017 and 2018 the company received only about 60 thousand. euro income Last year, White Cat did not earn anything at all. Net loss of white cats 2017-2019 more than 110 thousand. euros

Although both Mahmoudov companies in Lithuania are operating at a loss, these two companies have assets totaling approximately 1.7 million. euros

What these assets are is not specified in the company documents. All that is clear is that both companies have high-value, tangible assets. We contacted the director of both Lithuanian companies, Indre Korsakovienė, but she said she was unable to comment on customer issues.

London, Mallorca and more

Relatives of Azerbaijani politicians who indicated their place of residence in a 64-square-meter apartment in Pašilaičiai have accumulated impressive wealth in several European countries.

In the United Kingdom, the Mahmudow family owns two office complexes valued at € 13.5 million. Pounds Complexes in southern England in 2016 were acquired by Brit Holdings Limited, whose ultimate owner was Nargiz Mahmudova at the time.

Anar Mahmudov owns a four-story apartment in one of London’s elite boroughs. 17.35 million The politician’s son acquired a one-pound home with a small movie theater, spa, and elevator in 2013 at the age of 29.

A. Mahmudov until 2018. He was also one of the owners of the company that operated the popular MNKUY HSE restaurant in the mid-19th century. A. Mahmudov shares his actions with another person with commercial ties to the Mahmudov family. It happened the same month as UK court proceedings on assets of uncertain origin accumulated in London by Mahmoudov’s mother-in-law, Zamira Hajiyeva.

Z.Hajiyeva lived 11.5 million. pounds in a cabin near the famous and luxurious Harrods Mall. He reportedly spent more than $ 16 million on Harrods during the decade. pounds, of which approximately 6 million were spent using a credit card from the State Bank of Azerbaijan. This bank was chaired for many years by her husband, Jangahir Hajiyev. 2015 was jailed for looting property.

In Spain, Anar Mahmoudov started investing in 2006 at the age of twenty-two. Through his network of companies and in his own name, Mahmoudov bought real estate in Mallorca: plots, luxury apartments and even a hotel. Macent Invest Group, Mahmoudov’s main company in Spain, declares that it has assets of $ 33 million. euros

Macent Invest Group has 50 percent. Dolunay SL, which currently sells the following 17th century complex:

For an impressive residence in Mallorca, 15 million are requested. euros

Mahmoudov’s sister Nargiz also has significant assets in Mallorca. It owns one of the two buildings in the impressive Can Casasayas and Pensión Menorquina complexes in the Mallorcan capital. Art Nouveau buildings are recognized as architectural monuments.

Mahmudova invested in this complex in 2013. According to official documents, the value of the purchase could have reached 4.1 million. euros

The diver and Nargiz Mahmudov, through lawyers, told reporters that the family property was occupied without violating the law and declaring everything correctly. Furthermore, part of the family must be inherited from a famous relative, Aslan Ashurov, a prosperous businessman who flourished in the 19th century.

Mahmudov certainly belongs to this businessman’s family tree, but journalists have been unable to find information about the significant family assets he would have had prior to the start of E. Mahmudov’s career in the public sector. Furthermore, Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union for over 70 years, and the retention of large fortunes on private property was not common in the communist regime. Exactly what happened to Ashurov’s wealth after Azerbaijan’s accession to the Soviet Union is unknown.