We recently published a story about how some famous banks participated in financing illegal operations in Karabakh. Spreading separatist ideas and calling on ordinary citizens to fight against Azerbaijan, Ruben Vardanyan has founded the ‘We Are Our Mountains’ agency and is actively carrying out several projects under the guise of ‘humanitarian activity’ in Karabakh. One of them is the systematic military training competition called the ‘Davit Bek Youth Championship’. 

The championship is in fact put together to introduce terrorism among young people. The 212 000 USD worth of donations have been collected for the contest mainly through the Ameriabank of Armenian origin. However, established financial institutions such as Citibank and Raiffeisen Bank have also been involved in illegal fund transfers to Karabakh. 

The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan has already launched measures to prevent the illegal operations. The statement given by the bank to AzVision.az reads that the bank plans to officially appeal to these foreign fiscal institutions involved in financing the abovementioned unlawful activities. 

‘They have been informed during the working meetings that these operations facilitate financing terrorism and they were asked to take feasible measures to prevent them’, the statement reads. 

The Central Bank reminded that during the 30 years our lands had been under Armenian occupation, the structure implemented continuous and adequate measures to prevent illegal and banking activities in those territories. As the continuous monitoring conducted within this framework discovered the activities of these financial institutions as well as organizations that render money transfer services in our occupied territories, numerous letters were sent to the heads of those institutions and bodies that carry out financial control over them. They have been warned that these operations are illegal, that the right to provide banking services within the Republic of Azerbaijan is exercised through a license issued by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan only, that the requirements of the UN Security Council Resolutions have been violated, and that these institutions have served legalizing property obtained through crime and financing terrorism. 

The Central Bank has also appealed to US, European and Russian banks, and other fiscal institutions. These appeals demand that foreign financial institutions cease cooperation with illegal organizations in the occupied territories. The goal has been achieved in most cases. 

The statement reads that the commercial banks of Azerbaijan have been prohibited to cooperate with the foreign organizations that do not comply with the legal requirements of the Central Bank. ‘For instance, several money transfer systems have been involved in illegal activities in the occupied territories at different times. Adequate measures have been taken to cease their operations in the Republic of Azerbaijan in accordance with the national legislation and international principles since the facts of their violation were discovered. As a result, money transfer systems such as MoneyGram, Unistream, Migom, Leader, Bistraya Pochta, Intel Express, Ria Money Transfer, and Sigue have been banned in the country. Moreover, the Central Bank has also appealed to international organizations such as the World Bank and IFC to inform them of inappropriateness of making direct investments into financial institutions that operate illegally in the occupied territories.’ 

Sabina Hasanova

Aytan Zahra 

More about: #Karabakh   #Citiban   #Raiffeisen   #CentralBank   #Terrorism