Azerbaijan's State Secuirty Service unmasks criminal group engaged in secret interstate money transfers

As a result of measures carried out by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan (SSS), a criminal group that organised a clandestine system for transferring large amounts of currency from Europe to Azerbaijan and vice versa has been exposed.

One of the members of the group is Azerbaijani citizen Parviz Rovshan oglu Ismailov, Trend reports.

By the decision of Sabail District Court on the basis of a petition of the investigative body of the SSS, pre-trial restriction in the form of detention was chosen against Parviz Ismailov under Article 206-1.3 (illegal money transfers from the Republic of Azerbaijan to a foreign country or from a foreign country to the Republic of Azerbaijan in a particularly large amount) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Among the persons to whom money was transferred to Azerbaijan through the above-mentioned shadow economy network with a turnover of millions of dollars without state registration were persons prosecuted for various offences against state security, as well as various radical extremist groups.

It should be noted that in accordance with the best international practices in the field of combating money laundering and legalisation of proceeds of corruption offences, financing of spies and terrorist groups using the shadow economy, article 206-1 (Engaging in the illegal transfer of funds from the Republic of Azerbaijan to a foreign country or from a foreign country to the Republic of Azerbaijan) was added to the Criminal Code by a presidential decree in December 2022 and defined in the Criminal Code.

Serious measures will be taken against groups engaged in similar activities.