Azerbaijan blocks OCCRP over major corruption report

PanARMENIAN.Net - The website of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) was blocked in Azerbaijan on Tuesday, September 5, Meydan TV reports.

The block occurred hours after OCCRP published a major investigation into corruption, bribery, and money-laundering, in which President Ilham Aliyev, his family, and other powerful figures were said to have been involved.

The investigation, known as the Azerbaijani Laundromat, is based on leaked banking records, and details the way in which $2.9 billion was laundered through a series of shell companies and then used to bribe European politicians, buy luxury goods, or move money abroad for other purposes.

"The goal of independent journalism is to hold those in power accountable," Drew Sullivan, editor and co-founder of OCCRP, told Meydan TV.

"The Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation sheds light on secretive transactions worth billions of dollars made by powerful, wealthy elites. Its publication is in the interest of all Azerbaijani citizens who wonder whether their government is working for them or against them. The authorities’ decision to block OCCRP’s web site immediately after the publication of the investigation shows that its priority is to keep its own citizens in the dark."