\n
\n Buta Palace
\n <\/a>
\n and a massive
\n
\n exposition center
\n <\/a>
\n , both of which continue to be used for important state functions. Some of the projects were funded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n But the foreign workers who labored on these sites were treated as little more than modern slaves. They lived in cramped conditions, with little food, and worked grueling, 12-hour days. Their passports were confiscated and their wages withheld. Some were beaten, and at least two died.\n<\/p>\n
\n When their case was discovered, the men were paid a fraction of what they were owed and sent home. The Azerbaijani government ignored those who called for accountability and blamed the company\u2019s Balkan managers for the abuses. The police never pressed charges, a civil suit against SerbAz was swiftly dismissed, and the company\u2019s owners remained a mystery.\n<\/p>\n
\n The workers, their lawyers, and human rights organizations have long suspected that SerbAz was being protected by the authorities because its work benefitted well-connected insiders. But there has never been any proof.\n<\/p>\n
\n \n Now, a years-long investigation by OCCRP reveals that SerbAz\u2019s powerful backer was none other than Azad Rahimov, the Minister of Youth and Sports himself. There is strong evidence that, in hiring SerbAz, the minister was awarding contracts to his wife\u2019s company, using public money to benefit his own family.\n<\/p>\n \n SerbAz appears to be a subsidiary of a major luxury importer called ItalDizain, a company owned jointly by Rahimov\u2019s wife, Zulfiya Rahimova, and a man who appears to be his associate. Before entering politics, the minister himself was the director of ItalDizain.\n<\/p>\n \n \n Rahimov was a political newcomer when he was appointed Youth and Sports Minister by President Ilham Aliyev in early 2006. A \n Since then, he has presided over a series of grand projects led by the ministry, which plays a key role in the Azerbaijani regime\u2019s efforts to present a modern face to the world.\n<\/p>\n \n Most of the SerbAz workers were freed and left Azerbaijan in the fall of 2009 after their plight was made public. They are still waiting for their claims to be legally recognized. Meanwhile, Rahimov\u2019s ministry continued to make payments of millions of dollars to SerbAz well into 2010.\n<\/p>\n \n \n Azad Rahimov\u2019s first chance to make a big splash came not long after his appointment as Youth and Sports Minister. In late 2006, it was announced that the 2007 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship would be held in Azerbaijan the following summer.\n<\/p>\n \n The event was of particular importance to Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijan\u2019s first lady and the president of the country\u2019s official gymnastics federation.\n<\/p>\n \n But there was a problem. The proposed venue, a major sports complex named after the late former president Heydar Aliyev, whose son now rules the country, was in need of refurbishment.\n<\/p>\n \n Due to the urgency of the project, Rahimov later explained, there was no time to go through the normal bidding procedure. Instead, after receiving the required approval from another government agency, his ministry signed a 4.6 million manat ($5.3 million) contract with SerbAz.\n<\/p>\n \n Asked later to justify his rationale for selecting the company, the minister explained that the facility had \u201cvarious configurations and complicated architecture\u201d and that its refurbishment would require \u201cstate-of-the-art materials\u201d manufactured abroad. For that reason, he needed to find an operator with \u201cwide experience in this area.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Not only did SerbAz lack any experience \u2014 it didn\u2019t even exist when the contract was signed in March 2007. According to corporate records obtained by OCCRP, SerbAz was incorporated in Azerbaijan about a week later. Moreover, local media reported that the company had already begun work on the complex the year before it was formally selected to do the job.\n<\/p>\n \n The opening ceremony of the 23rd European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship was held in the building on June 29, 2007. Spectators and athletes were greeted by President Ilham Aliyev. His wife, Mehriban, also spoke, perhaps already envisioning the new facility in use for her own projects.\n<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n After completing the initial renovation, SerbAz received another ministry contract worth almost 600,000 manat ($700,000) to perform additional work on the center. But this was just the beginning.\n<\/p>\n \n Between 2007 and 2009, the company\u2019s foreign laborers worked on at least six other projects in Azerbaijan. At least two of these were also financed by the ministry: A 17-million-manat ($20.9 million) restoration of the \u201cPalace of Happiness\u201d and the construction of a 32-million-manat ($38.8 million) Olympic rowing center. SerbAz\u2019s other projects included the Buta Palace, the Baku Expo exhibition center, and 28 Mall, a well-known upscale shopping venue now owned by the Aliyev family.\n<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n It has taken years to link Azad Rahimov to SerbAz, because the company\u2019s ownership information is hidden in secretive jurisdictions thousands of miles from Azerbaijan. An Azerbaijani migrants\u2019 rights organization, a Serbian human rights group, and Bosnian prosecutors have all failed to pierce the company\u2019s opaque corporate structure.\n<\/p>\n \n In fact, SerbAz was actually registered as two different companies in different jurisdictions. In Azerbaijan, the company operates under the name \n The other SerbAz is registered in the Netherlands as \n Both of these corporate paper trails were dead ends, but OCCRP reporters found another clue. According to a tip from an insider, another Azerbaijani company, Creacon Construction, took over the building work from SerbAz after the workers were discovered and returned home.\n<\/p>\n \n In 2012, Azerbaijan restricted access to corporate information, making company ownership structures a secret.\n<\/p>\n \n But before the company registry was taken down, Azerbaijani journalists managed to scrape part of the database. \n ItalDizain is well-known in Azerbaijan as an importer of luxury brands. It has also grown to become a major holding company that includes telecommunications, real estate, and upscale boutiques that sell everything from Cartier watches to Baccarat tableware.\n<\/p>\n \n A lucky break helped reporters complete the connection back to SerbAz. The Internet Archive, a non-profit library of millions of websites, had preserved earlier versions of ItalDizain\u2019s site that contained a chart of its corporate structure showing SerbAz as its subsidiary as of January 2009, the same year the SerbAz workers\u2019 brutal treatment was discovered.\n<\/p>\n \n \n Having established that ItalDizain was the ultimate beneficiary of the workers\u2019 labor, reporters set out to learn who was behind it. Here, once again, the \n They indicated that the luxury conglomerate is wholly owned by a Luxembourg company called Argulux. Argulux, in turn, \n \n
\n This story refers to Rahimova\u2019s company by its
\n <\/b>
\n
\n
\n public brand name, ItalDizain
\n <\/b>
\n <\/a>
\n
\n . It is sometimes referred to in documents as \u201cItaldizayn,\u201d and two companies using that name \u2014 \u201cItaldizayn CJSC\u201d and \u201cItaldizayn Group LLC (ID Group LLC)\u201d \u2014 are registered in Azerbaijan.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n Zulfiya Rahimova has never been publicly announced as Azad Rahimov\u2019s wife, but they are officially registered at the same Baku address.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n U.S. Embassy cable sent
\n <\/a>
\n just a few days later describes Rahimov as \u201ca close contact of the President and his wife.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n Preferred Contractor
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n President Ilham Aliyev\u2019s wife Mehriban, who has served stints as a member of parliament and vice president, has long had an interest in gymnastics. She was elected president of Azerbaijan\u2019s gymnastics federation in 2002, and
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n
\n
\n
\n her official biography
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n describes her as an \u201caccomplished coordinator\u201d in the sport with \u201cgrowing prestige on the international arena.\u201d
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n After its renovation by SerbAz, the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex became the home of Azerbaijani gymnastics, hosting a number of major international tournaments organized on Mehriban Aliyeva\u2019s watch.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n It was also the home of the country\u2019s gymnastics federation until a company linked to the Aliyev family was awarded a government contract to build a still newer facility.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n The Palace of Happiness, a neo-Gothic mansion in the heart of Baku, is one of the city\u2019s most noteworthy historical buildings.
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n It was built in the early 20th century by a local oil tycoon as a gift to his wife, who had admired a similar French building on one of the couple\u2019s trips to Europe. During the Soviet period, it was renamed the \u201cPalace of Happiness\u201d and used as a venue for wedding ceremonies, a function it retains today.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n In Rahimov\u2019s letter to prosecutors explaining why SerbAz had been selected for the building\u2019s restoration, he said the company \u201cspecializes in the restoration of historical architectural monuments.\u201d
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n In reality, SerbAz had been incorporated just months earlier, and most of the workers it employed were simple laborers with no specialized experience. An RFE\/RL story about the project
\n <\/b>
\n
\n
\n quoted a local architect
\n <\/b>
\n <\/a>
\n
\n who dismissed SerbAz as \u201cunprofessional\u201d and \u201cnot a restorer.\u201d
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n An Offshore Secret Comes Out
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n The links in this section lead to the corporate records of the relevant companies.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n SerbAz Design and Construction
\n <\/a>
\n . It is owned by a firm called Acora Business, whose true owners cannot be determined because it is registered in the offshore jurisdiction of Anguilla. This is the \u201cSerbAz\u201d that signed contracts and received payments from the ministry.\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n SerbAz Property
\n <\/a>
\n under a limited partnership, a corporate structure that allows absolute anonymity.\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n The records show
\n <\/a>
\n that one of Creacon\u2019s two shareholders was
\n
\n ItalDizain Group
\n <\/a>
\n .\n<\/p>\n
\n There is other evidence SerbAz is a subsidiary of ItalDizain Group. For example, employment advertisements at the time describe the company as a subsidiary. In the "About Us" section of ItalDizain\u2019s website, SerbAz is also identified as a subsidiary. Finally, sources confirmed the relationship.
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n scraped corporate records showed
\n <\/a>
\n the way.\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n is owned by Zulfiya Rahimova
\n <\/a>
\n , the wife of Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov, and Elchin Zeynalov, who appears to be his associate.\n<\/p>\n
\n RAHIMOV AND ITALDIZAIN
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n There is evidence that Rahimov\u2019s connection to ItalDizain goes beyond his wife\u2019s ownership of the company.
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n