The next session was held in the Rotterdam court on the case of Maltese FIMbank (First International Merchant Bank), which in July 2004 raised a claim against the Azerbaijani Government regarding the non-payment of credit issued under the guarantee of the Communications Ministry and AKB Pochtbank to non-existent enterprises of the Ministry, Aztell in amount of $3,035,000 and Baktell - $1,560,000.
During the session, the evidences of the ex-president of the Bank, who currently lives in Canada, was heard, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of Azerbaijan. In addition, evidences had to be provided by deputy head of one of the Bank departments, but due to the objective reasons and lack of time, it was postponed to another time.
Witnesses from the Azerbaijan side did not participate in the Court because the Bank considered it expedient the participation of only own witnesses. During the process, we asked the Court to hear the evidences of the Azerbaijani witnesses, the same sources stated.
The next session of the Rotterdam court will take place in April 2007. Azerbaijan has already achieved the first success in this court investigation. In November, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of Azerbaijan received an official conclusion from the Paris Court of High Instance (Tribunal Le Grande Instance de Paris) in favor of the Azerbaijan side, which was passed on November 10 as a result of the court session on 13 October. According to the resolution, the bank should pay off в'¬5,000 for inflicting moral damage to the Azerbaijani side and an additional в'¬9,000 for expenditure on court procedure affairs.