AZERBAIJANI NGO CALLS ON STATE OIL COMPANY TO ADOPT GREATER TRANSPARENCY

A leading Azerbaijani nongovernmental organization on February 13 called for greater transparency and open accounting by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Turan reported. Zohrab Ismayil, the head of the Center for Assisting Independent Economy, told a press conference in Baku that while studying SOCAR's financial history for 2006, his group uncovered a series of questionable accounting reports and argued that SOCAR "deliberately hid from the public some important information on how its income is formed and on some expenses." He further contended that SOCAR is engaged in hiding profits from several of the firm's subsidiaries, mainly derived "from selling oil products and gas in the domestic market and from leasing property and special equipment, including offshore installations and supply ships. SOCAR representative Vaqif Mustafayev rejected the charges, but told reporters at the press conference that SOCAR plans to adopt new "international accounting standards" and will "present more information in its future public statements." RG


RFE/RL Newsline, Thursday, February 14, 2008 Volume 12 Number 31