Former head of Azerbaijan's largest lender arrested for fraud

The Interior Ministry said Cahangir Haciyev, the former chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, was detained on December 5 and will be kept in custody for a period of four months, pending trial.

Haciyev had repeatedly given testimony in an investigation of loans made by the International Bank of Azerbaijan that had not been repaid.

Several former senior bank officials and some Azerbaijani entrepreneurs have been arrested in the probe for taking out the large loans but not repaying them.