Panama Papers: How Azerbaijan’s first family built empire of hidden wealth

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Aliyev’s election to lead this energy-rich former Soviet republic bordering both Russia and Iran had been all but guaranteed. Becoming president wasn’t Aliyev’s only ascension during 2003. Using a network of secretive companies in offshore tax havens, his family, advisers and allies set about acquiring expensive overseas homes and positions in the country’s valuable industries and natural resources, including the family’s majority control of a major gold mine that has been unknown until now.

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Family Alliances

The records show that, in mid-2003, months before the election, Fazil Mammadov, Azerbaijan’s tax minister, began to create AtaHolding, which has since become one of the country’s biggest conglomerates. Mammadov subsequently invited President Aliyev’s family to join the venture.

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AtaHolding’s most recent corporate filing in 2014 shows it held $490 million in assets.

The files show, in 2005, Aliyev’s wife, the first lady and member of Parliament, Mehriban Aliyeva, became one of two managers of the UF Universe Foundation, alongside Mammadov. Documents proposed that then six-year-old Heydar Aliyev, the president’s son be made the beneficiary of 20 per cent of the foundation’s proceeds. The plan also proposed that the president’s two daughters, Leyla, then 19 and Arzu, then 17, would hold 15 per cent each. Mammadov’s son held 30 per cent. ICIJ sought comments from all individuals named in this article and received no responses.

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On a gold mine

Mossack Fonseca’s records reveal that the first family secured secret control of a gold mine. Under an agreement, the y would keep 70 per cent of the mine’s profit and the Azeri government received the remaining 30 per cent.

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In January 2016, mine workers protested before Azerbaijan’s parliament, alleging that Londex had not paid wages since 2014, when the mine was closed.