Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova: Exposing TeliaSonera’s scandalous bribery is reason for my arrest
The imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova says this week's revelations of massive bribes in the Azerbaijani telecoms industry explain why she is in jail today. Her statement is published on the website of The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Ismayilova says that the question of why the state's share was sold so cheap has always been there. When her investigation made clear that those companies were related to the president's regime, the answer to that question became obvious. “Now it appears they did not even pay for those shares. It is an obvious bribe,’’ she added and highlighted that this is a shame for Azerbaijan and for the Swedish government.
According to Ismayilova, this story explains why TeliaSonera was not so willing to answer her questions. A year before the investigation, there was a Global Internet Governance forum in Baku. Ismayilova asked a representative of TeliaSonera who its shareholders were. Later on, she investigated the issue and found out. That was her last investigation.
“This investigation, along with others, is the reason for my arrest. More investigations of this kind are needed. That’s because black money helps governments to keep their nations enslaved. Plus, it strengthens the notion of that ‘Europeans are also involved in corruption,’ thus, people lose the confidence in the existence of alternative and corruption-free societies,’’ Ismayilova notes.
When it comes to Azercell, Ismayilova highlights it is very dangerous for information technologies to be in the hands of one clan. And now there is not any communication or internet in Azerbaijan that is beyond the control of the Aliyevs.
Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company TeliaSonera is suspected of giving extremely large bribes, at least 6 billion kroner (about $ 800 million.) in the course of the company's work in the Azerbaijani mobile communications market. If the information is confirmed, this will become the largest corruption transaction in the history of the Swedish business. The investigation was conducted by the journalists of The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) with the Swedish public SVT TV’s "Mission: Investigation" program and TT agency.
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