Thread by @arzugeybulla

Long 🧵on Azerbaijan’s murky gold mining business explained as the news of AzerGold state company exploring partnership with Turkey’s Cengiz Holding for mining.

#Azerbaijan #corruption

In 2006 Pres. Aliyev awarded a  consortium of 6 goldfields worth billions of $ to one company in the UK & 3 in offshore jurisdictions: Globex International LLP, Londex Resources S.A., Willy & Meyris S.A. and Fargate Mining Corporation.

occrp.org/en/panamapaper…

A 2012 investigation by @RFERL & @OCCRP showed the president’s daughters, Leyla & Arzu Aliyeva were behind Globex International LLP which owned 11% of the consortium.

Later, it was revealed that they also owned Londex Resources S.A., controlling 56% of the consortium occrp.org/en/panamapaper…

Financial records obtained by OCCRP and RFE/RL show that Londex Resources S.A. spent nearly US$ 230 million to set up and operate the mining business before it abruptly ceased operations in April 2014.

The same year while locals who worked on these mines were left w/o a penny paid, a company known as Anglo Asian Mining received a generous $3mn credit line from Baku-based Pasha Bank, known for its links to Aliyev's daughters and their maternal grandfather.

Enter AzerGold CJSC, a state-owned company set up in February 2015 by President Ilham Aliyev's decree

d9mc3ts4czbpr.cloudfront.net/az/article/aze…

A year later, in 2016, Aliyev ordered that the company buys out four mining companies: United Kingdom (UK)-based Globex International and three offshore companies:, Londex Resources S.A., Willy & Meyris S.A., and Fargate Mining Corporation.

The deal came as a bid to save his family out of a disastrous and failed mining venture.

occrp.org/en/panamapaper…

At the moment, AzerGold owns 51% of the gold share in Azerbaijan. The remaining 49% are owned by Anglo Asian Mining (AAM) PLC - Delaware-based RV Investment Group intellinews.com/azerbaijan-to-…

The same company that received 3$mn from Pasha Bank.

But their partnership goes way back. AAM and Azerbaijan signed a production sharing agreement (PSA) in 1997, planning the development of six goldfields in Azerbaijan azernews.az/business/16951…

The man who signed that agreement is Reza Vaziri, a former official in Iran’s pre-revolutionary government and today the president, CEO, and largest known shareholder in Anglo-Asian Mining, which operates exclusively in Azerbaijan

eurasianet.org/following-war-…

Now, enter Cengiz Holding - a Turkish company known for its favorable ties to the ruling AK Party. Not too long ago, its construction branch was awarded a place among the conglomerate that built Istanbul’s new airport.

According to @PanamaPapers leaks, the company is at the center of a network comprising at least 20 shell companies panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/577b9…. In 2008, the owner of the holding Mehmet Cengiz, paid a consultancy fee of $3.07mn to an offshore firm called Vremax Properties Limited.

Several months after this payment, Vremax purchased a $2.3-million luxury apartment in the heart of London. The apartment was already occupied by a young businessman from Azerbaijan, Juma Ahmadzada.

2 years after, the secretive offshore company bought two other apartments next door and allowed Ahmadzada to remodel them occrp.org/en/investigati…

Juma Ahmadzada’s father, Ahmad Ahmadzade is the head of Azerbaijan’s state water resources management company, the Amelioration and Water Resources Open Joint Stock Company.

The two signed a contract with Cengiz’s construction conglomerate to build a massive hydroelectric dam in the country’s northwest. After the contract was signed, the payment of 3.07million was made, and the apartment was purchased according to OCCRP investigations.

Cengiz’s business ventures in Azerbaijan, begin in 2005 when the company completed the construction of the Vaykhir dam and hydroelectric power plant in the Nakhchivan exclave.

Then in 2009, came another major dam and hydroelectric power station along the country’s Shamkir River.

And looks like there is more to come. Last month, AzerGold and Cengiz Holding subsidiary Eti Bakr signed an agreement in Ankara during the Turkish-Azerbaijan business forum on partnership in the mining sector.

On March 12, the representatives of two companies met in Baku azerbaycan24.com/en/turkey-inte…

In total, some 11 agreements were signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey about developing cooperation on economic, trade, and other fields between Azerbaijan and Turkey apa.az/en/finance-new…

So stay tuned on what is likely to be an exciting time frame and a series of investigations to follow into these lucrative partnerships.

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