Family members of Azerbaijan’s Transport Minister and a prominent Azerbaijan company that does business with the ministry have close ties, raising serious questions about conflict of interest in the ministry’s activities.

Minister Ziya Mammadov’s son, Anar, and the Minister’s brother, Elton, are business partners with the members of the family of the founder of the Baghlan Group, a prominent Azerbaijan company involved in major projects in transportation, construction, sports complexes and oil exploration.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) found that Baghlan was the contractor on a series of major initiatives by the Ministry including the importing of 1,000 London taxis to Baku, the construction of an international bus station, and a lucrative road construction project.

The Group has received preferential treatment and the interlinked companies owned by the families have taken large shares or even monopolized certain transportation sectors like bus transport, taxis, road constraction, and cargo transportation services in the country. 

Businessman Hafiz Mammadov, who is not related to the minister, founded“Baghlan Group FZCO” which was registered in 2007 in the United Arab Emirates. The ties between the families include co-ownership of the Bank of Azerbaijan and a joint project to build an international bus station in Baku. Both families have top executives in the Baku Football Club. Companies owned by Anar Mammadov are also listed as members of the Baghlan Group companies. The Baghlan Group website is registered at the same address as a division of the Ministry of Transport.

At the same time, Baghlan Group companies have received lucrative, apparently non-competitive contracts to import and operate taxis and buses, and to build roads. The contracts were all approved by the Ministry of Transport.

“One of our fundamental objectives is to improve country’s transport infrastructure, including optimization of the local public transport system,” Hafiz Mammadov states in a Chairman’s statement on the Baghlan Group website.

According to that website, the company owns the the country's largest taxi company which operates more than 1000 London-style black cabs. The Group's bus company is also the country’s largest with a fleet of “hundreds of buses” that carry over one-fifth of all bus passengers within Baku.

At a 2013 meeting chaired by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Transport Minister Mammadov spoke of the need for 2,000 new taxis and 1,200  new buses.  After the Minister’s presentation,President Aliyev said: “We must approach this issue comprehensively. Of course we should update the vehicle fleet. We should bring in the new buses and taxis.”

The London taxis were imported by the Baki Taxsi Company at a cost of US$28,000 apiece, in time for the city to host the Eurovision 2012 Song Contest. Baki Taxsi proposed importing the taxis and the Ministry of Transport agreed, Ilqar Qasimov said. There is no evidence that any tenders were ever issued.

The Baki Taxsi Company was registered at the Ministry of Taxes in April of 2010. The founder of the company is listed as Murad Farhad oglu Gasimov.

Baki Taxsi Director Ilqar Qasimov confirms that the company was actually established by the Baghlan Group, and that the Baghlan Group manages all the record-keeping and other official business for Baki Taxsi. Qasimov says there is a plan to import London taxis for use in other Azeri cities.

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