Jahangir Hajiyev
Jahangir Hajiyev | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 October 1961 |
| Education | |
| Occupations | Civil Servant
|
| Spouse | Zamira Hajiyeva |
Jahangir Fevzi oglu Hajiyev (; born on 26 October 1961) is an Azerbaijani former banking executive and convicted fraudster.
He held the position of chairman at the International Bank of Azerbaijan from 2001 until stepping down in March 2015, citing health concerns. During his leadership, the bank grew to become a prominent financial institution in the Caucasus region and was later connected to the Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal.
On 14 October 2016, the Baku Court for Grave Crimes sentenced Hajiyev to 15 years imprisonment for charges including fraud, embezzlement, and misappropriation of state funds.
Education
Hajiyev completed his degree at Azerbaijan State University in 1986. He obtained an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 and earned a Ph.D. in International Economics from the Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences in 2005.
Career
Between 1993 and 1995, Hajiyev was employed by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations.
He became part of the International Bank of Azerbaijan in 1995. In an interview from 2012, he expressed support for market regulation and indicated that Azerbaijan’s ideal number of banks would be approximately twenty.
During his leadership, IBA experienced rapid growth throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia. The bank established several institutions including the Baku Interbank Currency Exchange, Baku Stock Exchange, AzeriCard processing center, International Insurance Company, and Joint Leasing Company. It was also the pioneer Azerbaijani bank to open branches internationally—in Moscow and Georgia—and set up representative offices in London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, New York, and Dubai. In 2013, CISTRAN Finance listed IBA among the top 1,000 most stable banks worldwide.
Criminal charges
Jahangir Hajiyev, formerly chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), faced accusations under Azerbaijan's Criminal Code for embezzling 211.59 million AZN (equivalent to 125 million euros). On December 5, 2015, he was taken into custody on allegations including fraud, large-scale misappropriation by an organized group, abuse and exceeding official authority, forgery, and unlawful possession of weapons.
On October 14, 2016, a court in Baku sentenced Hajiyev to a 15-year prison term and mandated payments totaling 63 million AZN to IBA and an additional 7 million AZN to Agro-credit CJSC. The court determined that his actions facilitated laundering over $9 billion from Azerbaijan’s financial system—roughly one-quarter of the nation’s average GDP for 2016/2017—resulting in a significant downturn in macroeconomic conditions. The laundered funds were reportedly transferred abroad into accounts linked with Hajiyev himself as well as his family members and associates.
The core fraudulent scheme involved issuing non-repayable loans for fictitious projects or expenses secured by counterfeit collateral such as bills of exchange and guarantees. This laundering was conducted through shell companies registered both within Azerbaijan and offshore jurisdictions. Hajiyev and his defense denied all allegations, asserting that all loans had received approval from both the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance.
Concerns regarding Azerbaijan’s human rights record and doubts about the fairness of Hajiyev’s trial led the UK Magistrates' Court to reject the government’s extradition request for his wife Zamira Hajiyeva. The court cited a risk of “flagrant denial of justice,” raising questions about the integrity of the judicial process in his case.
Personal life
Hajiyev is wed to Zamira Hajiyeva, who became the initial person targeted by a UK Unexplained Wealth Order following the introduction of recent anti-corruption laws.
In September 2019, a UK Magistrates' court refused Azerbaijan's request to extradite her, highlighting a substantial risk of "gross denial of justice."