Swedish court issued acquittal in the case involving "Azerbaijan Railways" CJSC

A Swedish court has found Bombardier employee Evgeny Pavlov not guilty of "aggravated bribery" over his role in helping the Montreal-based transportation giant win a $340-million (U.S.) contract in Azerbaijan.

"The prosecutors have not proved that the charged person has promised or offered an inappropriate benefit," Stockholm's district court said in a judgment handed down on Wednesday, according to Oxu.Az.

The ruling was focused narrowly on Mr. Pavlov's role in the founding of Trans-Signal-Rabita, Bombardier's local partner in a consortium that won a 2013 bid to install sophisticated train signalling equipment along the main east-west rail line in Azerbaijan. It did not directly address other questions, including whether any bribe was paid to Bombardier's Russian partners on the project.

"The prosecution against Evgeny Pavlov, as far as [proving he was] perpetrator of the bribe or aiding that crime, cannot be upheld," the Stockholm court said.

Mr. Pavlov, who was facing up to six years in prison, is now free after spending six months in detention. His lawyers had argued that Mr. Pavlov, as a regional sales manager, was too junior an employee to have participated in the complex bribing scheme alleged by Sweden's National Anti-Corruption Unit.

It should be noted that in 2013, a tender for the installation of automatic train alarm equipment along the main railway that connected Baku to the Georgian border was won by a consortium led by Bombardier, despite the fact that other companies offered their services for a lower price.

At the time of signing the agreement, Ziya Mammadov was Minister of Transport of Azerbaijan, and Arif Askerov - the chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

News.Az

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