As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info discovered, the network of "shadow" Azerbaijani oil traders trading Russian oil in defiance of sanctions is much more extensive than previously thought. It remains closely linked to the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR – Russian sanctioned oil is sold by current SOCAR employees, and deliveries are made through the state-owned company's subsidiaries.

 

In addition to the five already well-known Coral Energy figures, led by Tahir Garayev and Etibar Eyyub, it includes several other former SOCAR officials, as well as Georgian, Arab, Hungarian, and Swiss companies. It is headed by Azerbaijani citizen Rovshan Tamrazov. He trades crude oil in the markets of the Caspian, Black, and Baltic Seas, as well as other regions.

 

Rovshan Tamrazov, a native of Azerbaijan, attended the same school as Adnan Akhmedzade, the deputy head of SOCAR's investment department and a lover of luxury goods, luxury cars, and collectible watches. Akhmedzade was arrested a couple of months ago and is currently in custody on charges of undermining Azerbaijan's economic security and grand theft.

 

Tamrazov was the owner of the diesel fuel cargo carried by the infamous tanker "Mechanic Pogodin," which was detained by Ukraine in the port of Kherson in 2018. The tanker was owned by VEB Leasing, which was already under Ukrainian sanctions at the time. Incidentally, nothing has been heard from the "Mechanic Pogodin" for about a year—ever since Kyiv announced the destruction of the vessel, from whose deck drones were launched to attack Kherson.

 

Before the war, Tamrazov had a separate representative office of his company, Maddox, in Ukraine. Back in 2021, he, like Tahir Garayev, received a contract from Igor Sechin's Rosneft to supply oil to Ukraine.

The diesel fuel escapades in Ukraine didn't stop Tamrazov and his contacts at SOCAR. Since then, their network of companies has expanded significantly.

 

One of Tamrazov's first companies was a firm in Switzerland. In 2013, Tamrazov acquired PS Trading SA in Geneva, whose primary activity was brokering petroleum products. In 2015, he renamed it Maddox SA. In 2016, Rovshan permanently moved from his native Azerbaijan to Dubai and launched an equally vigorous operation there.

He registered Maddox DMCC in Dubai back in 2012. This company oversees Tamrazov's other offices, including those in Singapore, Switzerland, and Georgia. She took over the main trading operations for petroleum products – according to Volza data, she handled 273 imports and 149 exports. Maddox exported large quantities of fuel from Russia through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Turkey, Brazil, India, and Ukraine. Currently, the Dubai office is headed by director Nubar Aliyeva, along with Azerbaijani citizen Novruz Alekperov and local residents Anis Maqbool, Nujhan Naushad, Muhammad Ali Shah, and others.

 

Previously, Nubar Aliyeva was also a director at Danais Trade Ltd (Malta), whose shares were owned by Dubai-based Maddox DMCC. She also co-directed the Maltese firm with Olena Perrin, who also appeared in the Swiss Maddox SA – meaning she was clearly no stranger to the Azerbaijani traders' scheme. In 2021, the Maltese firm was liquidated, but another interesting company, Argo Navis Limited, is located at the same address. This is another subsidiary of Dubai-based Maddox DMCC, and it is headed by the same Olena Perrin. Incidentally, she currently works for SOCAR Trading SA, an official subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state-owned company, and also heads the Singaporean oil trading firm Stamford Oil Limited Pte.: her email address is listed on the company's website. This company is also part of the MADDOX network and trades Russian petroleum products, and also owns warehouse facilities in Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria.

Furthermore, Russian oil supplies until recently went directly through SOKAR subsidiaries. For example, in 2023, Socar Marketing and Operations made five deliveries of petroleum products to Socar Logistics DMCC on behalf of Maddox DMCC. These transactions are recorded in the Volza international trading database. The supplier to Russia was Premier Group LLC.

Who is Olena Perrin? She is one of Maddox's shareholders, a Ukrainian citizen who previously worked for companies owned by Nisan Moiseyev, a business partner of Viktor Medvedchuk. Until 2021, she was an administrator at GLUSCO Energy SA (now Greenenergo Trading SA), a Swiss company that owns a chain of gas stations in Ukraine by the same name. GLUSCO was owned by Nisan Moiseyev, but Viktor Medvedchuk was considered the real owner of the asset.

 

To be continued