User:Veyibanbaylor/sandbox

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: "The First Family of Azerbaijan and a close business partner made a series of financial transactions in the days and weeks before a crippling 2015 devaluation of the national currency that eventually earned them at least 100 million manat (US$ 64 million) in just two deals while additionally protecting their banks and companies." "At the center of the controversy are three banks: Caspian Development Bank, AtaBank and Pasha Bank. The three are owned by either the Aliyev family; their business partner, Ashraf Kamilov; or both. All three banks also massively violated Azerbaijani banking regulations – violations that led to almost no action by regulators." It has been widely reported that the Azeri government uses the criminal justice system as a political weapon against enemies. The government accused Jahangir Hajiyev of stealing billions from the International Bank of Azerbaijan, but in reality the bank lost money due to a number of bad loans and unfavorable economic conditions. By arresting and charging Hajiyev with a series of crimes, ruling Aliyev family was able to cleverly take the heat off themselves for their currency transactions and their banks' violations. By keeping charges going against Hajiyev, the Aliyev family successfully controls the prevailing narrative as to who bilked the country of its treasury.

As Georgia Today put it, the case against Jahangir Hajiyev "smacks more of political score settling."