helicopter arrives and passengers get off and Marcel and others get on

10 00 00

flight over oil platforms intercut with interiors helicopter

10 00 08

10 00 12

Commentary

A revolution is taking place on the shore of the Caspian sea a [music in] new nation is joining the global economy.

10 00 12

music in

Gulyaz & Gulyanaq Industrial Mugam Label VVS track 1

10 00 20

This sea and the riches under it belong to Azerbaijan. I've come to see what happens when a small, poor nation becomes a player in the most global commodity of all.

mix to opening title sequence

Unreported World

All the President’s Oil

10 00 35

10 00 36

10 00 39

10 00 40

10 00 43

music change

JO Unreported World title music

music change

Gulyaz & Gulyanaq Industrial Mugam Label VVS track 1

man tightens wheels from oil pipes

Marcel watching as bucket filled with oil and z/i

10 00 44

10 00 54

10 00 58

If the global economy is going to work anywhere, it will surely work here.

closer shot of oil

10 01 03

10 01 04

music out

pan up to Marcel

oil man

MCU Marcel

super reporter Marcel Theroux

CS hand

Marcel

10 01 07

10 01 08

10 01 10

10 01 16

10 01 20

Marcel

It’s got the smell, smells like petrol.

Looking at this kind of filthy looking stuff – it's hard to believe this is the purest oil produced in the former Soviet Union. And it was this that fuelled the Soviet space programme and put cosmonauts in orbit.

WS beach

oil pipes

10 01 22

music in

Gulyaz & Gulyanaq Industrial Mugam Label VVS track 4

uptown Baku intercut with shots of

oil pipes and men

oil rig being built

10 01 28

10 01 32

10 01 59

Commentary

In Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, the 21st century oil industry has arrived. The country is sitting on at least eighty billion dollars of oil reserves - a fortune to a nation with the population of London. All the big oil companies are here and Baku is booming. Azerbaijan has signed up to the big idea of our time: open up to the forces of international capitalism, trade and compete in the global market and everyone will be better off.

Marcel with group of oil workers

10 02 04

10 02 06

10 02 15

This one hundred and eighty million dollar rig [music out] is being built with money from around the world and an international labour force.

10 02 15

Marcel

How much more time will you be.

10 02 17

Man

One month only.

10 02 19

Marcel

One month and then then Madras? And then Madras? Singapore after that and build another rig? Excellent.

Marcel driving through derelict oil fields

10 02 28

music in

JO music Q 1

Sumgait town sign

factory as they drive past

10 02 32

10 02 49

10 02 54

Commentary

But you don’t have to go far out of Baku to see that things are not going to plan. Since the break up of the Soviet Union Azerbaijan has actually got poorer, the average is around 40 dollars a month.

The town of Sumgait was an industrial powerhouse in Soviet times. This gargantuan factory was just one of many. It employed 2,000 people, it now employs 80.

10 03 00

music out

Marcel piece to camera in car

intercut with drive past shots of factory

10 03 03

Marcel

But in order to visit this factory I've had to go to the local authorities in Sumgait because it's quite a convoluted procedure to be allowed inside and even here I've got a lot of minders who are watching where I'm going and what I'm looking at.

10 03 18

Commentary

Little sign of the global revolution here...

Marcel to camera

zoom in through car window to minders knocking of factory door

WS factory doors and minders, joined by Marcel

Marcel

pan to minders and door

10 03 21

10 03 38

10 03 45

Marcel

This factory used to produced 70% of the equipment for drilling in Siberia, for drilling oil wells. I've been told I am being taken to some part of the factory which is still working, but I haven't actually seen any signs of life here whatsoever.

they go into factory

factory worker greets minders

Marcel

10 03 54

10 04 01

10 04 06

I think there are more people showing me round the factory than working in it.

factory sequence

10 04 07

music in

Leyla ve deyirman Azerimeyk

Label VVS track 1

10 04 08

Commentary

Factories in Azerbaijan are only producing one fifth of what they did in 1990. Here in Sumgait United Nations officials told me factory bosses and politicians had blocked plans to pump in foreign investment because they didn’t want to lose control. It seems they earn millions of dollars in backhanders selling the little they still make, out the back door.

exterior factory

deserted oil fields

Baku street

10 04 35

10 04 44

10 04 52

10 05 04

10 05 08

Azerbaijan was turning out to be a cautionary tale of what happens when global capitalism falls foul of the local rules of the game.

In private, the word I kept hearing was corruption. According to the world bank it’s one of the key obstacles to development around the world. The difficulty here [music out] was finding anyone who would talk about it on camera.

Marcel walking/talking

and goes into building

and zoom into Press Klub sign

10 05 11

Marcel

I just got tipped off that a former major in the Ajeri army has taken the unusual step of going public in allegations of corruption in the armed forces so I’ve come along to the press club to see what he has to say.

Alekper Mamedov speaking to press

press pan to Alekper

O/s Alekper of press

camera view finder

cameraman pan to Alekper

photos of soldiers

pan up to Alekper

10 05 32

10 05 34

10 05 41

10 05 46

10 05 51

10 05 57

Commentary

Major Alekper Mamedov worked as an assistant to three Defence Ministers. He called this news conference to expose corruption, he said was destroying the armed forces. In theory, there's a free press here, though journalists sometimes end up in prison. Alekper said that the present defence minister steered lucrative contracts towards his friends and that millions of dollars had been embezzled. Most shockingly, he claimed that these Azeri soldiers starved because the money for their food went into the pockets of officials. It was an extraordinary story. I arranged a rendezvous.

Marcel and Alekper in street

10 06 14

10 06 22

music in

JO music Q2

music out

10 06 22

He is saying that until 1999 he was sort of carrying out this internal campaign to expose corruption he was doing it secretly and he went public in 1999.

10 06 39

10 06 46

He says that one he had gone public he gave an interview to the newspaper then he received threats and telephone calls.

He's saying that he's, they put you under observations, he thinks we're under observation right now.

10 06 59

He's saying that people are either afraid or they have some kind of personal interest for not speaking out.

Marcel and Alekper in car intercut with street shots

10 07 04

music in

JO music Q3

10 07 11

Commentary

Alekper wanted to show me his flat so I could see how people in Azerbaijan live if they don¹t take bribes.

Alekper’s daughters looking over balcony pan down to Marcel

10 07 26

10 07 29

music out

Marcel

These are Alekper's daughters up in the apartment and he gave them their military haircuts.

inside Alekper’s flat

Alekper’s wife and small child

10 07 41

10 07 49

Commentary

His family of five all sleep on the floor of this room. It's hot and full of mosquitoes. He shaved his daughters' heads to prevent lice.

bathroom

Marcel with family

10 07 53

10 07 58

10 08 03

10 08 05

Bathroom right here.

There's no door because he hasn't got enough money to replace it.

He's saying, I'm not a refugee, but this is how I live.

Evening news on tv Alekper’s press conference [duration: 28”]

intercut with family shots with Marcel

10 08 07

10 08 14

Commentary

The evening news reported Alekper's press conference, but rubbished his story. The Minister of Defence denied everything. When I contacted the ministry later, they were scathing about Alekper, saying his real motive was to destroy morale in the armed forces.

Marcel and Alekper

10 08 36

Marcel

The coverage has been pretty negative on TV and I wonder if he feels like it was worth it.

Alekper’s wife and small child

10 08 49

10 08 59

10 09 07

There were two paths, as one path lead to a good life and taking bribes and the other path is the path he is on.

He consciously chose this path. The reason is the Azeri struggle is that if they don't make a stand now then this will become and unliveable place.

Baku seafront

Marcel walking down street

10 09 09

10 09 14

music in

JO music Q4

meets Adil Ismailov in street cafe

10 09 16

Commentary

Alekper had offered a glimpse of a system that was corrupt to its core. It fitted with what other people had told me: that in Azerbaijan everyday life is dominated by corruption. Seeing a doctor, getting a child educated -everything needs a bribe. And I was about to learn why the many foreign businesses that leave Azerbaijan in despair never bother to fight corruption in the courts.

10 09 53

music out

tea poured

Adil talking to Marcel

10 09 55

10 10 00

Commentary

Adil Ismailov knows the legal system from the inside.

10 10 02

10 10 15

Marcel

A while ago he used to work for State Prosecutor's Office and during that time he didn't take bribes.

I was saying that I was saying that you know the situation in those days before 1992 was a bit better because the State salary was worth more and prices were stable. And so I said that with prices a bit higher and the State salary worth a bit less the situation must be getting worse and he agreed.

10 10 38

I was just saying that the thing is now even the judges accept bribes and the law is almost useless.

10 10 50

These Azeri where the judge just said to the accused what do you need a lawyer for you know, you can give me the bribe yourself.

Marcel walking down street

10 10 59

10 11 01

Adil's a lawyer and he is, but he is actually doing consulting work now and he told me a couple of other interesting things. He was saying that business was really good about a year ago. Now a lot of his foreign clients have gone away, they have just had enough and he said that the people that are staying are just the ones who have accepted that they have to play by the local rules of the game.

Baku street shots

10 11 22

10 11 26

Commentary

Every survey puts Azerbaijan among the most corrupt nations on earth. The policemen shaking down unlicensed traders on the street is where it begins. But it permeates the entire country.

10 11 38

music in

JO music Q5

Hyatt International Centre

10 11 43

For much of the 1990s, the World Bank said corruption didn't really matter. But it’s changed its tune. It now says corruption can choke the economic life out of a country.

Marcel enters hotel meets Paul Parviz

swimming pool shots

10 12 02

10 12 11

10 12 18

If anyone knows how the system works, it’s this man.

Paul Parviz personifies international business: an Iranian with a Portuguese passport who was educated in Britain and America, he's been running hotels in Azerbaijan for almost thirty years.

10 12 24

music out

Marcel and Paul walk beside pool

10 12 25

Paul Parviz

A great deal of corruption comes under the communist regime. Ownership was not permitted. All of a sudden communism collapses, you are allowed to own things, so what is the human tendency, grab.

10 12 39

Marcel

Right.

10 12 40

Paul Parviz

They lived in little dinky apartments, they were only allowed so big, now the guy has found he's done some trading, found some money, he can buy a piece a land, he can build a house so people have gone crazy with their house.

Paul

widen to 2-a with Marcel

10 12 54

You either have to change the mentality of the 65 year old bureaucratic who has been a communist all his life, he has come out of Russian school, from communist school, turn him into capitalist boom. No. These people will still read the newspapers and the system what happens in Russia they still copy from them because that is what they have been familiar with. That's what they know.

Baku street group of people

Marcel walks towards them

10 13 12

10 13 15

10 13 18

Commentary

On the streets of Baku, unemployed teachers and former soldiers waited for casual work. Not much talk of the oil boom and the global economy here.

Marcel talking to unemployed

10 13 26

Marcel

They come here in the morning and they're here till ten at night, for fifteen hours maybe, and the people here still in the evening waiting for work. And they all say that if the factories were working they wouldn't be here.

Marcel talking to man

10 13 38

He said, I said, well, the oil was going to help you, he said that oil doesn't concern us we’re slaves.

other men

10 13 44

10 13 50

He says he'll come and work with us, he’d come straight to England if we’d just make him out the forms.

10 13 57

10 14 07

He said all the factories are closed. They’re all being sold.

He says a few people live like kings and the rest are poor.

10 14 10

music in

JO music Q6

sequence of posters of President

Marcel walking down street pan up to another poster at Ministry of Communications

10 14 13

10 14 22

Commentary

There are no kings in Azerbaijan, but the closest thing to one is this man, the President, Heidar Aliyev. His pictures and sayings are posted on walls and buildings throughout the country.

gates through trees

10 14 30

music out

soldier saluting

President’s car and others pass

10 14 31

10 14 34

10 14 35

Marcel

OK the gates are opening we are waiting for the President to come out.

police car following

Marcel and POV

10 14 36

10 14 45

10 14 48

Commentary

The president agreed to see me at his country house or dacha. The roads of the capital were cleared of traffic to allow his motorcade to pass.

10 14 50

Marcel

We have been driving for about fifteen minutes from the President's residence towards his datcha and every 30, 50 yards there's been a policeman on both sides of the road.

10 15 00

I was told there are 120,000 policemen in this country and it feels like half of them must be out on the streets of Baku today.

driver pan to see policemen beside road

10 15 10

10 15 19

We're stopping at a market, a bazaar outside the town and the President is going to do a walk about.

walk about sequence - public cameramen and President and minders

10 15 32

10 16 06

Commentary

An ex KGB general and a former Politburo member, President Aliyev ruled Azerbaijan when it was a fiefdom of the Soviet Union. He became leader of independent Azerbaijan in 1993. President Aliyev constantly attacks the culture of corruption... but he's ruled the country for a total of 17 years, as a communist and now as a free market democrat. Corruption is as bad as ever and some say, worse.

Don't worry, he told his audience, Azerbaijan will develop day by day you will live an excellent life.

driving through people as they follow President’s car

tree lined road

10 16 17

10 16 25

10 16 27

Marcel

Well here we go, and we're in this is the President's datcha.

Marcel with President and grand daughters

Marcel walking and talking to President

CS President

10 16 36

10 16 38

10 16 42

10 16 47

Commentary

After being introduced to the president's granddaughters I wasn't sure how much time we'd have with him. I thought I'd better start the interview as soon as possible.

zoom out to 2-s with Marcel

10 16 48

Marcel

But Azerbaijan still has a tremendous problem with corruption and I wonder if you ever worry that this will spoil your achievements.

10 17 05

Translator

Have you started the interview.

10 17 06

Marcel

Yes, I have. If that is too soon.

joined by translator and they walk towards a table and President picks up grandson’s plastic gun and points it at Marcel

Marcel and President in casual clothes walking to guest house

10 17 18

10 17 32

Translator

We would normally first discuss how we are going to manage this interview, are we going to …

Marcel and President in guest house garden

President

10 17 34

10 17 42

10 17 50

Commentary

The president took me to a guest house set aside for state visitors to continue our discussion.

In these lavish surroundings, I prepared to return to the subject of corruption.

10 17 54

10 18 01

Translator

But naturally there is a corruption in some parts of our society.

This is a common disease.

WS Marcel, President and translator

10 18 04

10 18 05

Commentary

But after a bit of prodding he went much further.

2-s Marcel and translator

10 18 08

Marcel

If I understand correctly the President is saying that if everyone who had ever taken a bribe lost their job the country would simply become ungovernable.

President

10 18 18

10 18 28

10 18 39

Translator

Partly that is correct.

But I don't have the trust or belief that those who replace the persons whom I fired won't be also getting bribes.

Maybe I would fire all of them.

W3-s

President

10 18 42

10 18 44

Commentary

The president said the government had earned eight hundred million dollars so far from the oil industry and there was much more to come.

2-s Marcel & translator

President

10 18 51

10 18 52

10 19 00

Marcel

Do you ever worry that corruption will prevent that money from trickling down and benefiting the ordinary Azeri people.

10 19 02

10 19 10

10 19 18

10 19 22

10 19 28

Translator

All the oil wealth will go down to benefit the poor people.

Because it is under the government's control and personally under my control.

We have created the oil fund.

That fund reports directly to the President.

No one can even take one dollar out of that fund and waste somewhere.

President and Marcel in garden

10 19 34

Commentary

That was a relief: no one could misappropriate the money. The president wasn't going to let anyone else near it. President Aliyev had been disarmingly frank, but I still felt puzzled. He has been in office on and off since 1969, but he stills throws up his hands and says there's nothing he can do about corruption.

President shows grandson how to make a fist and hit

10 19 58

I wondered if the president sensed my doubts. He showed his grandson how to treat nosey foreign journalists. Hit him, he said, in the stomach.

WS derelict countryside

10 20 14

music in

JO music Q7

oil derricks on shore

Marcel walks towards camera

dumped car

Marcel meets Elmar

10 20 15

10 20 20

10 20 24

10 20 26

10 20 42

10 20 44

Marcel

In every society there's a group of people whose job it is to sniff out corruption.

This bleak looking place has now defunked oil refineries and old car plants here. And the reason I have come is actually to meet a journalist who used to have his printing presses in this part of the city until they were closed down by the government.

and he shows Marcel his old office

10 20 46

Commentary

Elmar Husseinov found himself out of

a job after he wrote an article criticising the president.

10 20 58

10 21 02

Marcel

This is Elmer's old place of work. [music out] This was the typographic press.

10 21 08

Commentary

Tax officials sealed the premises the same day that Elmar published an article questioning the president¹s achievements.

10 21 16

10 21 20

Marcel

OK. Quite mediaeval looking thing.

On the 6th May this magazine appeared and at 11 o'clock in the evening, at night, the authorities came along to close this down and close down the office.

10 21 34

He says it’s called democracy of the closed doors.

Marcel and Elmer leave past jeep full of police

10 21 36

10 21 37

music in

JO music Q8

Marcel and Elmer walk down road

group of police

10 21 40

10 21 45

10 21 46

10 21 50

Commentary

Outside a jeepful of police were waiting for us.

We bumped into them again when we walked towards a nearby cafe. They were worried that Elmar had broken the seal on the printing presses and started work. He told them they were an embarrassment to their country.

10 22 06

music out

oil pipes at sea from air

Marcel in bus on roads joining platforms

sea and hotel

Marcel gets out off bus and goes into hotel

Marcel in hotel room pan to see view from window

10 22 06

10 22 11

10 22 19

10 22 21

10 22 30

10 22 32

10 22 34

10 22 40

Sixty miles out in the middle of the Caspian Sea is a place that epitomises Azerbaijan's Soviet past.

But Azeris worry that if corruption chokes off their chances of joining the global economy, this might be an image of their future.

This is Oily Rocks. In Stalin's time it was a Soviet showpiece - a hundred and twenty miles of roads and oil rigs built on stilts.

oil pipes and oily sea various

10 22 45

Marcel

This is the view from the window of Hotel Oily Rocks.

10 22 54

music in

JO music Q 9

sunset

10 22 55

10 23 22

Commentary

Nothing works properly here. Parts of it are crumbling into the sea. The whole rust bucket's an embarrassment to the government of Azerbaijan. But Oily Rocks is what I’ll remember most. For it seemed to me this is Azerbaijan’s destiny if corruption continues to scare off foreign money and drive away home grown talent. And I’m not the only one who thinks this.

10 23 25

music out

Marcel and Rasul play pool

10 23 26

10 23 30

Be my guest.

Rasul is twenty. He's had enough. He's leaving for Europe. There’s nothing here for the young and ambitious.

10 23 37

Marcel

And you were saying that five years ago that everyone was saying it is going to be fantastic in five years time.

10 23 43

Rasul

They were saying that after five years it will be like Kuwait, you know, just everything, you will have everything here.

10 23 51

Marcel

You've got enough oil why aren't you Kuwait? Somebody's got to be rich, right?

10 23 56

Rasul

Yeah.

10 23 57

Marcel

Who?

10 23 58

Rasul

Who is rich at the moment?

10 23 59

Marcel

You think so?

10 24 01

Rasul

Yes. And the people who is rich in Azerbaijan they are getting richer and richer, and the people which is poor, they are getting poorer, poorer.

street topshot

10 24 13

music in

Gulyaz & Gulyanaq Industrial Mugam Label VVS track 4

railway siding’s inhabitants

10 24 15

10 24 29

Commentary

In a desolate railway siding outside Baku are people who're the poorest of Azerbaijan's poor. But they now stand for the poor of so many other countries. The families here live in railway carriages, refugees [music change] from a war with Armenia. They've been here seven years. The global revolution has brought them less than nothing.

music change

JO music Q9

10 24 38

Marcel

What you can't appreciate is that the inside of these things is cast iron and it's, what it must be 45° which is why they sleep underneath.

10 24 50

Commentary

Like many across the world, they would like to be part of the global economy. But the new rules are failing them. They can't get a foot in the door. And if they miss out now, they will be sidelined here for ever.

fade to black

Unreported World end credit background

Roller

Reporter

Marcel Theroux

10 25 06

10 25 08

10 25 09

10 25 30

music change

JO music Q10

Trailer for following week’s programme inserted into Unreported World background

10 25 31

Commentary

Next week Sonya Saul travels to Sao Paulo in Brazil, a city in the grip of an epidemic of violence and murder.

10 25 40

Sonya Saul

It’s been just about one hour since the first shot gun casualty came in this Saturday night with a bullet in his leg. Since then there have been five people in, two dead on arrival, one paralysed from the neck down.

10 25 55

music change

JO Unreported World end title music

lose trailer insert

fade up MBC _©

10 25 55

10 25 58

10 25 59

Commentary

Unreported World explores more of the hidden cost of globalisation, next Friday on Four.

10 26 03

music out