PASHA Holding LLC is a major Azerbaijani conglomerate.[993] [682] It was founded in 2006, in the early years of Ilham Aliyev’s presidency.[682] As of December 2023, it owned assets valued at 20.5 billion manats ($12.05 billion),[1406] [1407] including subsidiaries in banking, insurance, investment, construction, travel and tourism, and technology.[995]
The name of the conglomerate is said to be derived from Pashayeva, the family name of the first lady and vice president, Mehriban Aliyeva.[994] Its ownership has been shrouded in secrecy.[997] However, until at least 2012, it was beneficially owned by Arif Pashayev, the vice president’s father; from 2013, his granddaughters Arzu and Leyla Aliyeva were the beneficial owners.[1337] [1336] [1112] [1270] When opening accounts at Malta’s Pilatus Bank in 2016, the Aliyeva sisters disclosed that they owned the conglomerate.[341] [341]
PASHA Holding is reported to have benefitted from lucrative state contracts in key industries.[526] Its construction arm, PASHA Construction,[683] is alleged to have received preferential treatment for its property developments. In 2010, a US diplomatic cable alleged that, while construction companies doing business in Azerbaijan have to pay off officials demanding “slices of the corruption pie,” “projects by Pasha Construction face few, if any, of these setbacks and are generally among the fastest to be built in Azerbaijan.”[604]
