Empire of the Ring

"I've looked into the articles that have been plastered by The Times, but I'm too embarrassed to even speak. The entire Federal Kingdom of Kazakhstan is going to be transferred to wholesale. I'll have to take this opportunity to shuffle everyone."

Park Jong-il, who entered Youngho's office, was in high spirits.

A few days ago, the wealth of Azerbaijan's state-run bank president's wife in London was disclosed in The Times, and her excessive consumption was under fire. It seemed the couple had siphoned off national money overseas.

He said in rage that even the royal family would be embarrassed by this.

"Did you ask the British government to confiscate her property?"

"The government of Azerbaijan has come forward, but I don't think it'll be resolved until we do. They say they can't accept the government's request with a high corruption index."

According to an article in The Times, the wife of Hajiyev, president of the International Bank of Azerbaijan's state-run bank, spent 150,000 pounds, equivalent to 224 million Korean won, in a day in Harrods, a famous department store in London, and spent over 16 million pounds, equivalent to 23.9 billion Korean won, over the past decade.

In addition, it was revealed that she owned a 15-million-pound mansion and golf course near Knightsbridge, not too far from the department store, and a dedicated dock for two yachts and a 42-million-dollar Gulfstream jetliner.

"What the hell did Aliyev do while the president of the state bank did that?"

"He's on the same boat, so he must've been able to control it. How much money must have been lost since Hajiyev has been the head of the state-run bank for 22 years."

While President Aliyev was in power for a prolonged period, his close aides had been committing all sorts of corruption. He was not able to stop it because he was afraid that his corruption would be revealed.

Of course, the bank president and his wife claimed that they did nothing wrong and asked for the intervention of the European Court of Human, saying that the president's wealth was accumulated by working hard before becoming the president, not embezzling bank money.

However, Britain's National Crime Agency countered that Hajiyev was not in a position to amass that much property, saying he was just a staff member of a state-owned company from 1993 to 2015.

Embarrassingly, it was the first case in which Britain's new anti-corruption law, "Unexplained Wealth Order," was applied.

The law was created to prevent corrupt foreign officials and others from laundering money in Britain.

Under the law, assets with the source that could not properly be explained were allowed to be seized, which was highly likely to be returned to Azerbaijan's state coffers.

However, the UK court was reluctant to return it to the current government of Azerbaijan which had a high corruption index as It could bring a severe backlash from the people of Azerbaijan.

Despite the difficulty of overcoming the foreign exchange crisis with the help of the Kazakh royal family due to lack of dollars, the power elite only cared about themselves. It was quite upsetting.

The royal family also took the lead in solving the penalty problem of the Chinese fighter jets when the Azerbaijani government lacked money.

Even Kazakhstan was in a situation where the entire nation was tightening its belt due to the war with China. Youngho hoped that Kazakhstan's federal states would at least be mindful of such a situation, but this was no longer acceptable.

"How's Aliyev's approval rating?"

"Still in the 70 percent range. I don't even believe that poll anymore. I think it's all a fabrication."

Although it was a democratic country, the Aliyev regime was no different from a socialist country as it led to a father-to-son succession after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

That was why polls could also be manipulated.

"But we can't ignore the response of the people of Azerbaijan at all. There's a hard-core support group that could cause a disturbance."

No matter how ugly a leader was, there was bound to be hard-core supporters who blindly trusted him no matter what.

"What are you talking about? If it weren't for our royal family, it could have been a vegetable government. Then shouldn't they have come to their senses? If we've given me a chance to get rid of the rotten branches, they should at least pretend to do so."

Youngho was waiting because he needed a cause.

Now there was enough justification accumulated that even the hard-core support group would turn its head.

If the corruption of the Aliyev regime was exposed in detail, the people would accept it.

"We should get rid of him finally, don't we?

"That's what I've been saying. We need to remove him. It's turned into a situation where our royal family has protected the Aliyev regime."

Youngho also wanted to get rid of him, but President Aliyev was struck right after Azerbaijan became a federal state, there would have been a bloodshed.

In the process of dispersing hard-core supporters, coercive methods would have been used, and then it would have drawn people away from supporting the royal family, let alone encouraging national harmony.

And the president was left in his position because Kazakhstan needed a puppet to put forward when signing a peace treaty with Armenia.

If the Kazakh royal family became a negotiating party, it would later act as a political burden.

It was a case in which Kazakhstan was forced to carry the Aliyev regime.

Park Jong-il had been displeased about it for a long time.

"Hahaha… You really hold your grudge for a long time."

When Youngho teased him, Park Jong-il gushed.

"I'm doing this only for the royal family. Only the royal reputation has gone bad because of these thieves."

"Everyone knows about the corruption of the Aliyev regime. Who would think there was a connection between Aliyev and the royal family? Nobody has written about the Kazakh royal family so far when covering the corruption in Azerbaijan."

In the article in The Times this time, the Kazakh royal family was not mentioned at all.

Only the Aliyev regime, which passed down power by father-to-son succession, was under fire.

Anyway, the long-awaited opportunity finally came, so the two began to think head-to-head about how to use it.

***

The Kazakh Queen and Duke and his children visited Baku at the same time after several months.

Even at a sensitive time with China, Azerbaijan residents welcomed them largely, not caring about it.

Citizens lined up in the streets welcomed the Queen's visit more enthusiastically as if representing the current atmosphere of Baku.

Disillusionment with the incumbent government was expressed in reverse with expectations for the royal family.

Citizens were demanding change, as people did in Central Asia, hoping the royal family to step up and end the dictatorship and corruption.

"Oh my! Honey, did you see the picket people were holding?"

Fatima looked back at Youngho with a look of surprise.

"I saw it, too. It says, 'overthrow the dictatorship'."

The fact that they carried such a picket when welcoming the royal family's visit was to represent the citizens' current minds. It was a message to change Azerbaijan.

"That's why you suddenly asked me to come to Baku. I didn't expect the situation here to be this bad."

"If they've brought that out, it must have taken a lot of courage."

No matter how much Azerbaijan police had changed, it was inconceivable to dare to come out with pickets with anti-government slogans, considering the old notoriety. It was because the Aliyev regime was still alive and well.

Youngho thought there would be some changes if he gave Aliyev some time, but it was not enough to control the power of his aides. Maybe Aliyev had too many weaknesses to control his aides.

"Fatima, I need your strength."

"That's not a problem. Would it suffice if I visit around the country?"

Fatima quickly understood what Youngho meant.

The Queen's national tour had happened before.

Nothing was better than that as a way to win the hearts of the public.

"Given the situation, I'll come along if I can."

"No, you take care of your Baku. I can just go around with the kids feeling like I'm traveling with them."

By showing that the royal family was deeply interested in Azerbaijan, the move was aimed at softening the backlash of possible Aliyev followers.

This was because the citizens were well aware that many changes had taken place in Azerbaijan since becoming a federal state of Kazakhstan.

When the threat of war against Armenia, which had always been around, disappeared, huge defense spending disappeared too, and as the cost was spent on economic development, people were becoming more well-off.

"I'm going to have a talk with Aliyev if I find out that the public sentiment is completely turned to the royal family."

"Wouldn't there be opposition?"

Fatima's expression showed concern.

She was worried that there might be bloodshed.

"We hold Aliyev's weaknesses. He'll have to comply or he'll have to stand in court."

Youngho would give Aliyev two final options.

He would either have to give up slush funds and seek asylum abroad or choose to be humiliated at Azerbaijan's court.

Then, he intended to push for a constitutional revision so that the Kazakh royal family would have diplomatic and military power.

In order to effectively counter China, the two-way federal system needed to be changed.

Azerbaijan with its presidential system was not mixing well in the commonwealth, so he wanted to change that.

"Will the self-respecting people really want to be ruled by our royal family?"

The Caucasus was a place where nationalism was unusually prevalent.

The three countries of the Caucasus had different languages and different religions, even though the whole Caucasus was a little larger than the Korean Peninsula.

This meant that the people had such strong self-esteem.

"If we show a vision that they can be better than they are now, they'll agree."

"Then we'll have to make a promotional video or something."

The moral hazard of the Azerbaijani government had even stained businessmen.

Although there was no soil for a company to use after independence from the Soviet Union for only 30 years, it only produced insolvent companies that had grown up with illegal loans using corrupt politicians.

Perhaps it was natural for black money to come and go in the process.

In addition, big companies equivalent to the nation's key industries were becoming increasingly insolvent in lax management as Aliyev and his aides directly intervened in the process of selling state-owned companies to the private sector or seeking private interests putting third parties in the front.

Companies that could close down at any time had been able to maintain their reputations because of the continued transfusion of public funds on the grounds that they were national infrastructure industries.

In other words, companies that would have closed down already without huge oil dollars were still operating with taxpayers' money.

In the process, such things as the recent international disgraceful use of public funds were raised.

If Azerbaijan had not been a member of the Kazakh Federal Kingdom, Youngho would have overlooked it, but it was no longer a matter of others.

During the financial crisis, the Kazakh royal family supported funds and conceded a stake in the new oil field, but even that funds would have slowly disappeared into the hands of greedy politicians.

Of course, the Kazakh royal family was also enjoying huge profits from receiving offshore oil fields in exchange for dollars, but that was before it became a federal state.

A new oil field found in waters northeast of Baku was a golden goose boasting the world's best reserves in a single oil field.

Although the royal family was supported by Baku citizens because it gave up its 50 percent stake to the Azerbaijani government, if it was not used for economic development, the meaning of giving up its stake would fade.

The Kazakh Intelligence Department believed that the corruption was connected by a link from the top to the bottom, so it was not easy to organize the political circle.

Aliyev was not the only problem. It was necessary to investigate all public officials and companies.

It was obvious that there would be a bloodbath in the process.

Perhaps it was necessary to wipe out the whole upper classes that were equivalent to vested interests.

In order to do so, public support was essential.

Fatima qualified for such a role.

Azerbaijan's inclusion in the federal kingdom and a peace treaty with Armenia were largely attributed to Fatima's nationwide tour.

Every word from the Queen's mouth led to public opinion and became a public sentiment.

This time again, Youngho intended to use public sentiment to drive out all the corrupt vested interests.

In order not to get blood on his hands, he pushed back to keep the Aliyev regime afloat, but it had become a difficult situation to expect something good from Aliyev any longer.

National GDP was barely 6,000 dollars, but if the establishment siphoned off public funds and spent millions of dollars overseas, it would never be a normal country.

In order to make Azerbaijan a normal country, he had to get his hands dirty.