Treason-accused Azerbaijan ex-official's family businesses win state contracts

Ramiz Mehdiyev

Family businesses linked to Azerbaijan's former "grey cardinal" Ramiz Mehdiyev have continued to secure non-competitive state contracts, despite him being under house arrest on treason charges.

Recent public procurement records show that Caspian Telecom LLC and printing giant Sharq-Garb ASC, both heavily linked to the Mehdiyev family, secured multiple state contracts and generated millions in revenue over the past year.

Mehdiyev, aged 88, was placed under house arrest in October 2025. He is accused of high treason, attempting to seize state power, and laundering criminally acquired property.

On Friday, the Sabail District Court in Baku extended his house arrest by a further five months.

Despite his legal troubles, Caspian Telecom, a firm tied to Mehdiyev's immediate family, signed at least two public contracts in 2026.

One contract, valued at 24,248 manats (£11,200), was awarded by the Ganja Housing and Communal Services Production Association to provide internet services for passenger lifts. The amount exceeds the company's total reported tender revenue over the previous four years.

The contract was awarded through "single-source" procurement, a non-competitive method meant only for cases with no market alternative or in emergencies.

A second non-competitive internet service contract was also signed with the Kalbajar State Agrarian Development Center, which is overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Under Azerbaijani procurement law, single-source bidding is an exception. It remains unclear why state bodies bypassed competitive tenders to select Caspian Telecom when alternative providers are available.

State Tax Service registries show that Caspian Telecom was registered in July 2005. Its official address is listed as Apartment 17, 11 Istiglaliyyat Street in Baku.

Public documents show this is the registered address of Mehdiyev’s daughter, Kamila Aliyeva, and his granddaughter, Fidan Aliyeva.

The company's legal representative is Orkhan Aliyev. He is the son of Fikrat Aliyev, a former Ministry of National Security colonel and the brother of Mehdiyev’s son-in-law.

The family’s business interests extend to much larger assets, notably the publishing firm Sharq-Garb ASC.

In its newly released 2025 financial report, the company declared revenues of 10.2m manats (£4.7m), recording a net profit of 675,700 manats. This follows profits of 844,700 manats in 2024 and 1.39m manats in 2022.

Official registries list Sharq-Garb at 17 Ashig Alasgar Street in Baku, alongside several sister companies, indicating a broader corporate network.

While the 2025 financial report does not name individual shareholders, previous disclosures showed that 96% of the company's shares were owned by Mehdiyev’s son, Teymur Mehdiyev, a former deputy minister of emergency situations.

The younger Mehdiyev shares a registered Baku address with his father.

Sharq-Garb, which specialises in printing and textbook publishing, relies heavily on government spending.

In 2025, the firm signed six contracts with state entities worth more than 3m manats (£1.4m), including agreements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Education, and the state-owned Nakhchivan Salt Production LLC.

This government business accounted for nearly a third of the company's total 2025 revenue.

Ramiz Mehdiyev served as the head of the Presidential Administration from 1995 to 2019, serving under both former President Heydar Aliyev and his son, the current President Ilham Aliyev.

Often described as the architect of the country's modern political system, his influence began to wane after his dismissal in 2019. He later served as president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) before stepping down in 2022.

The ongoing success of his family's businesses, despite his downfall, raises questions about the lasting reach of his network.