Two years ago, when the Azerbaijani army showed off their Czech Dana howitzers and Vampire rocket launchers in a promotional video, it attracted extraordinary media attention: the Czech Republic does not officially export military equipment to this country. The arms branch of the Czechoslovak Group immediately rushed to make an official statement that, in accordance...
Investment apartments have become the subject of a heated debate in Prague. The Czech Pirate party’s proposal to ascertain the number of vacant apartments in the capital by monitoring their electricity consumption and then levy a tax on such apartments raised a wave of protest, criticism and coalition conflicts at Prague City Hall. However, two...
Pedro Agramunt resigns as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Days before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was to debate a motion for his dismissal, the body’s president, Pedro Agramunt resigned, tweeting “personal reasons” as the motive. The motion was filed June 30 with 158 signatories and described a lack of confidence...
The Azerbaijani Laundromat is a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled $2.9 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK. The scheme was uncovered through a joint investigation by Berlingske (Denmark), OCCRP, The Guardian (UK), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), Tages-Anzeiger and Tribune de Genève (Switzerland), De Tijd (Belgium), Novaya Gazeta (Russia), Dossier (Austria), Atlatszo.hu(Hungary), Delo (Slovenia), RISE Project (Romania), Bivol (Bulgaria), Aripaev (Estonia), Czech Center for Investigative Journalism (Czech Republic), and Barron’s (US). This project is part...
Rashad Gafarov, a Azerbaijani businessman who owned businesses in the Czech Republic, sent LCM Alliance €54,900 ($71,043) from his personal account at a Czech bank, allegedly for construction materials. In June 2017, he was murdered. His car crashed into a truck on a one-way street in Holešovice, an arty Prague neighborhood. Doctors treating the injured...
Ali Nagiyev, 59, is a busy man. His job is to fight corruption in Azerbaijan, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. As a deputy chief of the Anti-Corruption General Directorate with the Prosecutor General, Nagiyev is supposed to investigate state officials for conflicts of interest, nepotism, and other abuses. As such, he...