Azerbaijan Country Profile

Police

Individual Corruption

In Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2009, the police are widely perceived to be corrupt. The road police are an example of a corrupt state agency. After a significant increase in road police wages in 2005, some improvements were seen; however, according to Global Integrity 2007, these improvements have not resulted in lasting changes. Reportedly, one will have to pay AZN 400 as an illegal 'installation' fee to the road police's registration department when purchasing a car. The booming car purchase statistics imply that illegal road police revenue obtained via documentation of car purchases and mandatory tests is a lucrative AZN multi-million business. It also reports that the traffic police frequently stop cars with foreign plates to demand bribes even if they have not committed an offence and have all documents in place. Global Integrity 2008 reports that citizens continue to pay bribes to passport officials, despite the new legislation accelerating the waiting period from one month to one week.

Business Corruption

According to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2009-20010, companies indicate that the reliability of police services to protect them from crime constitutes a competitive disadvantage. Trade, service, farming and manufacturing SMEs in Baku consider the police to be a state structure that often breaks the law.

Political Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2007, the law enforcement agencies are under strong political control from the government and an effective mechanism to protect enforcement agencies from such influence is lacking. There is no special mechanism for citizens to file complaints about the police.

Global Integrity 2008 reports that while corruption is still endemic in Azerbaijan, citizens are sometimes successful in claiming their rights. A recent example involves an opposition activist from the Nakchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan (NAR), Intigam Ismayilov, who refused to pay a USD 6 bribe to the local police department to get his citizenship identification card. When Ismayilov complained to the Interior Ministry of NAR, he was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail. However, after the media got hold of the story, Ismayilov was released after having spent three days in prison. Consequently, Zakir Mammadov, chief of the relevant department of the Interior Ministry of NAR, was fired.

In 2008, the head of the State Anti-Monopoly Service (DAİX) under the Ministry of Economic Development Samir Dadashev was arrested with four other top employees on bribery charges. The press speculated on the true motives of these arrests, including internal political rivalry within the ruling elite, as reported by Global Integrity 2008.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010:
- Business executives give the police in Azerbaijan a score of 4.3 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'cannot be relied upon at all' and 7 'can always be relied upon').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2009:
- 72% of households who had contact with the police in 2008 report to have paid a bribe.

The World Bank & IFC: Enterprise Surveys 2009:
- 10.5% of companies surveyed identify crime, theft and disorder as a major constraint on doing business.

Global Integrity: Azerbaijan Country Report 2008:
- A passport can be purchased within 5-7 days for a USD 209 bribe, plus USD 49 to cover the official fee.

EBRD & World Bank: BEEPS Azerbaijan 2005:
- Companies are rarely inspected by the municipal police.