Peer Reviewer 1:
It is necessary to specify a number in the sentence "These violations resulted in losses of US$12,450,000 million dollars to the state" in the second paragraph of the section "Corruption in Other Areas". A very big sum results by adding "million" after the number. To my mind, expressing the "million" is redundant. [This has been corrected.]
"Bizim yol" is presented as an opposition newspaper in the last paragraph of the section "Corruption in Other Areas". In reality, this newspaper does not have any connection with any opposition party.
In that paragraph, it is also said that Mushfiq Huseynov was killed in 2009. In reality, this journalist was arrested in 2007. [This has been corrected.]
It is mentioned to carry out cost of Baku-Russia highway by EBRD in 2005 in the 4th paragraph of the section "How Far Does it Go?" In reality this evaluation was held by EKO Company of Belgium in 2004. EBRD just allocated US$100 billion credit to this project. [This has been corrected.]
It is necessary to correct some names written in the Azeri language. For example, the abbreviation PAAFE stands for Azad 0qtisadiyyata Yard1m 0ctimai Birliyi (the 4th paragraph in the section of "How Far Does it Go?") and MRI stands Media Hüquqlar1 0nstitutu (the 3rd paragraph in the section of "Fighting corruption: Just the Beginning"). [This has been corrected.]
Peer Reviewer 2:
I reviewed the Reporter's Notebook, and I agree with everything that is said there. I would, however, like to make some general comments on the issues addressed in the Notebook.
1. Land sale and municipalities: In general, the municipality system has not been well-developed in Azerbaijan. There is an idea formed in the society that municipalities are there just for land sales and profits. Most candidates nominate themselves just for this purpose. There is, in fact, no understanding among the people that municipality members hold social positions. The Reporter's Notebook mentions the arrests of Khojasan village municipality chairman and Baku Sabail District municipality chairman, but in reality most municipalities are corrupt and are busy just with illegal land sales, either through brokers or directly. It could be noted that there were cases when a certain plot of land was sold to at least two different people.
2. Non-efficient use of government funds: The situation is the same in all areas, not just in road construction and transportation, but also in the sector of constructions and repairs of schools, underground passes, metros, etc. Corruption has been absorbed in all spheres in Azerbaijan. This is the worst legacy left from the Soviet Union.
3. Fighting corruption: The laws are always wonderful, but there are no working implementation mechanisms. Also, there is an idea in the society that the person that leads the entity fighting against corruption is a corrupt person himself. This can explain how effective the work of this entity can be.
Global Integrity uses a