Empire of the Ring

The Aliyev family, which led Azerbaijan for more than two decades, had done something truly shameful.

As Youngho feared, the president fled the presidential palace surrounded by bodyguards and defected to Estonia on a small jet waiting at the airport.

A satellite tracking the flight tracks revealed that Estonia’s Tallinn Airport was the final destination.

Estonia was one of the three Baltic states and was an independent country from the former Soviet Union.

It was a bit strange that Estonia, which had a strained relationship with Russia, was considered an asylum, but it must have been because he had other plans.

In any case, Aliyev’s asylum seemed to have been unknown to even his aides.

The president’s sudden defection rattled Baku.

Citizens of Baku were furious to learn the rumors circulating that he sought asylum to keep the slush funds collected by the president’s family.

Some civic groups said they would organize a commando unit to chase the Aliyev family.

Since Estonia had not signed an extradition treaty, even if they were caught, they would not be repatriated to Azerbaijan. The Aliyev family chose to go to Estonia for that reason.

Of course, he would be sneaking into a third-place from there.

If he had to live in hiding for the rest of his life, it would be better to give up slush funds and live in exile in a fair manner.

However, Aliyev made such a choice not to give up the slush funds.

Park Jong-il had quickly sent intelligence agents to Estonia to secretly chase the Aliyev family.

He hurried since if the Aliyev family was caught, the Kazakh royal family would gain huge royal funds.

“He’s such a rat. He moved so secretly that even the Estonian government didn’t know about it.”

“How did that happen?”

“He entered the country under a completely different name, and there were 4,000 travelers who entered Estonia that day.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of arrivals in such a small country.”

“It’s a popular tourist attraction these days. We looked at the airport record and found out that they arrived at the airport early in the morning and left the airport at the busiest time when there was the highest number of arrivals. It’s been thoroughly planned.”

“Don’t rush and track them down step by step. They won’t budge if they know we’re tracking them. We have to make them go careless, and don’t forget to talk to the British government and freeze the Aliyev family’s assets.”

“They won’t have the assets under their names. They must have changed the name. The same goes for deposits.”

“Tell the British government to freeze any suspicious account if it doesn’t want to cross our royal family.”

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t agree. For now, it would welcome any foreigner who pays taxes properly.”

Britain had made relevant laws to limit foreigners’ money laundering, but it was not exerted at any time.

This was because foreign investors would exit the country like a low tide if it did.

“We still have to try. I’ll ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The British government won’t be able to reject it if we put pressure on it from all directions.”

“Most of the money must’ve been siphoned off to somewhere already. His wife and two daughters had been in and out of London frequently recently. It would have been because of property disposal.”

Aliyev’s asylum was the collapse of a long dictatorship and the starting line for a new democracy in Azerbaijan.

The absence of the president did not paralyze state affairs although there was a temporary confusion, it soon went back to normal.

Youngho was even thankful that there was no obstacle in getting rid of corrupt officials.

Many corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen were accused and arrested in the act.

It was worrisome that the government or the economy would be paralyzed because there were so many targets of punishment.

The amount gathered in the process of seizing the properties accumulated in fraud was close to Azerbaijan’s annual budget as they were collected through decades.

Apart from the real estate, cash and gold bars poured out during the search and seizure process were also enormous.

As in most countries that became independent from the Soviet Union, the black collusion between bureaucrats and businessmen was no exception to Azerbaijan.

More and more irregularities were committed everywhere because of the overflowing oil money.

The irregularities under the guise of the welfare of the citizens to weapons purchases made by partnering with companies were immeasurable.

General companies were used as money laundering channels for bureaucrats and they received easy bank loans for a return, which was in fact, public funds. It was simply a mess.

The government budget was blind money, and Azerbaijan was the place where people would be treated like idiots if they did not take it.

This was possible because Aliyev, who was obsessed with a long-term rule, turned a blind eye to it.

It was to maintain the loyalty from bureaucrats, soldiers, and police organizations, the strong pillars of a long-term rule.

From the minor official to the chief, moral hazard was at its peak.

***

“There is no answer unless we have to reform people’s minds.”

“We used to be like them, remember?”

Youngho and Jong-il were also the party that handed out envelopes to low-level government officials and working-level officials in order to settle down in Baku in the early days.

“Is paying a little money for bribing the same with stealing people’s money? At least there was friendship.”

The friendship claimed by Park Jong-il was about drinking with the officials and becoming friends, although he bribed them.

“Is that even friendship? We had no choice but to bribe them because that was customary. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has ruined them. I don’t know where to start.”

As Aliyev’s absence staggered the government, Youngho was forced to come to the fore.

There was no legal basis for the royal family to step up, but the public wanted the royal family to step up.

“Compared to how the officials in Kazakhstan used to be, the officials here are clean.”

Park Jong-il, who was presenting various data, sighed.

“How’s the legal circle?”

“Phew! It’s been kissing up to the regime, but it’s better than other branches.”

Youngho found something strange while looking through the data.

The gold mine, a strategic material, was owned by an individual, a businessman who was put on the list of people in connection with political relations.

In addition to oil, Azerbaijan had large deposits of iron ores and gold mines.

One of them was the dead gold mines in Serbian Ranch.

“Look at this. He personally owns a gold mine.”

“The businessman is a close confidant of the president, and he reportedly took over the gold mine from the state 10 years ago. He was charged with bribery this time.”

Park Jong-il replied as if it was not a big deal, but he smiled when he looked at Youngho’s expression. He knew that Youngho was crazy for gold.

“He’s just a miner who produces around one ton a year. I’ve searched, but there’s no circumstantial evidence of siphoning gold. All he did was to give gold to political figures as a gift.”

A ton of gold bars was worth more than 50 million dollars at market prices.

It was not much compared to the amount held by the Kazakh royal family, but it was a mine that would be classified as a gold mine with sufficient profitability.

Of course, considering the cost of production, it was not great enough to bribe people here and there.

Nevertheless, if he had bribed politicians for such a gold mine, it was proof that there was something special.

When Youngho’s expression changed strangely, Park Jong-il looked back at the document, wondering what it was.

“The gold produced at the Serbian Ranch is also around two tons. It’s the amount that they drill quietly not to be caught, but he’s producing one ton there even though he has five gold mines.”

Park Jong-il picked up the phone as if he had missed something and ordered intelligent agents to investigate deeper.

He was just reminded of the production rate of gold mines in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

“It seems that the police of Baku didn’t get it right either. I’m sending our agents, so they’ll get some evidence. You are indeed keen when it comes to gold. It’s like you can smell it.”

“It’s because I’m crazy about gold.”

At the lowest estimate, the amount produced by the five mines should be more than five tons a year.

If it had been reported to have produced only one ton, it was highly likely that the owner would have lobbied officials for silence.

“It’s too much for him to take it out of the country. It must have been hidden somewhere.”

Azerbaijan was a police state and a place where entry into and departure from the country was extremely thorough.

Then, of course, the gold bars should be in the country if it did not involve President Aliyev.

“Tell them to investigate secretly and look into the presidential palace as well, and we also have to look at the data from the police more thoroughly. It’s full of holes everywhere.”

Starting from the gold mine case, the two began a full reinvestigation into the crimes committed by those involved in corruption. It was because they could not trust the Azerbaijani police yet.

Youngho’s interest was by far the hidden gold and gold mines.

Given the current global economic trend, gold was a cashable asset with high prices because holding gold was safer than holding the key currency, the dollar or the euro.

Youngho’s busy mind was transferred onto Park Jong-il.

“Has the results come out yet?”

“We’re doing a thorough investigation. Please wait. Your Royal Highness. Patience is a virtue.”

His response was telling him that the result was not as clear as expected.

Youngho was anxious because the gold miner could transfer the gold to somewhere else at any moment if the investigation was prolonged.

“Use a high-handed way if you need to. It’s not because I’m greedy for gold but because Azerbaijan’s national wealth is leaking.”

Azerbaijan’s economic situation was still not stable enough to the point where it had to deal with China not to pay the fighter purchase deposit 120 million dollars.

Even a few tons of gold bars could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, so Youngho had to do everything to secure such an amount.

“I’m gently coaxing the related officials under the condition of giving them a pardon. If there’s no outcome, I’m thinking of getting the mining right at least.”

“The mining right?”

“If we don’t get a confession, we can check if we mined and produced gold ourselves, and the production amount is clear. That’s hard evidence.”

“You think the mine owner will comply?”

“It doesn’t make sense if he tries to hold onto it when he said the mine only produced a small amount. It’s only natural to sell it if someone offered a good price. If he doesn’t, he’d have to rot in a cold cell, so why wouldn’t he?”

Even if Youngho was the gold miner, he would accept the offer if he could receive a pardon to reduce his sentence.

“That’s a very good idea. I’ll have to reward him.”

As soon as Young finished his word, Jong-il stretched his hand toward him indicating that it was his own idea and urging Youngho to give the reward.

“I’d rather get that in cash!”

“Gee. Okay, I’ll give the entire intelligence service a bonus. Just make sure all Azerbaijan’s personal gold mines are brought to the royal family.”