After a 2-year education program, 22 students from different countries graduated from the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Laxenburg, Austria. Among the first graduates of the Anti-corruption Program was a notable Azerbaijani - Yalchin Rafiyev

He, like the others, takes his place in the hall and listens to the speakers. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the honorary guest of the ceremony, - who has been formerly the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He tells the graduates, there has been some progress in the fight against corruption even if the fighters against corruption are slower than those who have committed it.

On graduation day, their teachers wished the young anti-corruption specialists success in their future careers and said that they had great expectations of their students. Yalchin Rafiyev applauds the speakers, receives his diploma and says goodbye to the academy. But how did the young specialist apply what he had learned in the academy later in his career?

Before graduating from the International Anti-corruption Academy, Yalchin Rafiyev worked in various minor positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After completing his studies in 2016, he was appointed the first secretary of the Ministry's International Security Department. Later he became the first secretary of the permanent representation of Azerbaijan at the UN Branch in Geneva and other international organizations. He held the post of deputy chief of the International Security Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs too.

In 2019, Rafiyev was awarded a medal for distinction in diplomatic service by order of President İlham Aliyev. He received the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Second Degree and was finally promoted to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2023. When Rafiyev became Deputy Minister, several companies were already registered at the address where he was officially registered. MY WINGS LLC and Laguna Group LLC have been registered at the address Ajami Nakhchivani Street 27, apartment 102 in Binagadi district. Registry data of commercial institutions shows that when Laguna Group LLC was founded February 15, 2017 its legal representative was Artogrul Garayev,  Artogrul Garayev is the cousin of Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev.

Garayev has also been the legal representative of Lagona LLC, the company incorporated two days before the registration of Laguna Group LLC. While Lagona LLC was liquidated in 2019 Laguna Group LLC was preserved and Ramil Asgarov substituted Artogrul Garayev later. According to information obtained from Laguna Group LLC, the company operates under the Laguna Travel brand.  Official documents from the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents confirms that Laguna Travel brand and Laguna Group LLC share the same legal address, the address where Yalchin Rafiyev is registered.

The brand has been registered by Muzadil Rafiyev, Yalchin Rafiyev's brother. Muzadil Räfiyev is also the legal representative of MY WINGS LLC, the company registered in the official residential address of the Deputy Minister. The company was involved in tourism and arrangement of flight tickets. It is difficult to say whether the company performs business operations, however it looks active in the public registry.

The brother of the Deputy Minister Yalchin Rafiyev, is also the legal representative of Agroman LLC, another company incorporated in 2020. The company is involved in construction of industrial and civil facilities, restoration of historical buildings, etc. From the projects implemented by the company, it becomes clear that Agroman LLC mainly works together with PMD Group which belongs to the family of President Ilham Aliyev. Article 23 of the Law on Public Procurement requires professionalism, experience, technical and financial capabilities, availability of labor, competence in management and reliability for bidding. However, Laguna Group and Agroman received their shares from the government procurement, despite no publicly available information about their resources. Shusha City State Reserve Department awarded contracts worth 134 979 manats to Laguna Group for organizing the "Shusha Symposium" in October 2023. With this amount the company arranged flight tickets for the architects who were invited to the symposium and provided their hotel accommodation. Along with it, Agroman LLC was also the winner of the bidding contracts by the Shusha City State Reserve Departmentin 2023.

The administration paid a total of 1 349 848 manats for the emergency demolition of old buildings in Shusha and the removal of waste. For the provision of the same services, the administration paid another 993 877 manats to Agroman LLC last year.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan was enthusiastically preparing to host the UN Climate Change Conference when intensive reconstruction works were underway in Karabakh.

Rafiyev was appointed the Lead Negotiator for Azerbaijan at this conference, known as COP29, which Baku is going to host in November. However, one of the family companies of Rafiyev had violated ecological regulations.

According to the State Environmental Security Service, Agroman LLc has illegally removed trees in Shusha. On October 12th, an act and a protocol were drawn up and appropriate measures were taken.

But this measurement did not slow the business of Agroman LLC down in Karabakh. In December 2023 Agroman LLC won the bid by Reconstruction, Construction and Management Service in the Karabakh Economic Region, a public legal entity. A bidding contract worth 745730 manats aimed at demolition within the framework of reconstruction in Aghdam. Yalchin Rafiyev has also contributed to ecology. He has donated 5 manats in order to support the tree planting project of Green Future.

The companies registered at the address of Deputy Minister won 4 bidding contracts with a total value of 3 224 000 manats. Article 9.3.3 of the Law On Combating Corruption states that an official engaging in entrepreneurial activities directly, through other or fictitious persons with the exception of scientific, pedagogical, creative activities, is considered a violation of law that creates conditions for corruption. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan did not comment on the questions about the ties between the companies and Yalchin Rafiyev and his possible role in winning the tenders.

Ramin Aliyev, deputy director of Agroman LLC, told Abas Media that he has been doing business since 2011 and that the company has no ties with Yalchin Rafiyev.

“Yalchin Rafiyev has nothing to do with the company. It is not possible to intervene in the tender results. The results are approved by the Tender Commission and the Ministry of Economy. Everything is transparent. No other option is possible here. Since the liberation of Karabakh, the company has been operating in this direction”.

Muzadil Rafiyev, the brother of Deputy Minister who is the founder of Agroman LLC and co-founder of Laguna Group LLC commented to Abzas Media that the companies have no connection with Yalchin Rafiyev.

He said that Yalchin Rafiyev does not live at the address Ajami Nakhchivani 27, apartment 102. According Muzadil Rafiyev, he founded Laguna Group LLC with friend of him, but Agroman LLC by himself.

If Yalchin Rafiyev does not live at Ajami Nakhchivani 27, apartment 102 why is he still registered there?

In his answer to the question he said:

“Since the “kupcha” (ownership document) of the house where (Yalchin Rafiyev) resides is not ready, he cannot be registered there for now”.

According to the requirement of Article 10 of the Law on Registration by Place of Residence and Place of Stay, a citizen who wants to live outside his permanent place of residence for more than 60 days must apply to the police authority of the area where he will live within 7 working days with the required documents. Were any legal measurements taken against the Deputy Minister for that? There is no publicly available information about it.

When we talked with Muzadil Rafiyev we clarified that he had signed some of the bidding contracts without attending the tender.

“Do you think that the project is received only though tenders? Of course, not. It is done with internal competitions. For example, the Ministry of Education sends it to 5 tourism companies and ask them to estimate the 10 “tickests”. We estimate it, they invite us and say come and have the contract worth 350 000 manats. Why? Because (they say) they are going to buy the “tickets” from us. It doesn’t mean that I take the project via tender. Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Karabakh Revival Fund, Marine Port, Badminton Federation, State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC. I have been collaborating with 12 to 13 state agencies since 2017. It does not mean that I have to receive the contracts definitely through tenders. Absolutely not! I attend tenders when I want, when we are free and have recources”.

According to Article 44 of the Law on Government Procurement, when the estimated price is 100 000 manats or more, procurement is carried out is using open tender or two-stage tender methods. When the expected price is less than 100 000 manats, purchases can be made using the quotation request method.

There is no public record, whether the state has taken legal measures against the procurement violation admitted by Muzadil Rafiyev. What is clear is that family companies of Yalchin Rafiyev benefited millions from government procurements and he has not subjected any juridical investigation. On the contrary was promoted as a diplomat and appointed to Lead Negotiator of COP29 Global Environmental Summit.

This investigation, prepared by the journalists of "Abzas Media," was completed after their imprisonment.