Azerbaijani authorities have detained the former head of the country's biggest bank on suspicion of fraud and misappropriation of public funds.
Interior Ministry said Jahangir Hajiyev, 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.
Hajiyev 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.
* An earlier version of this story identified Hajiyev as the former chairman of the central bank.
