PACE Members Suspected of Corruption

A number of former and current members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) allegedly accepted bribes for lobbying the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities in Europe. Such a statement is contained in a report published by a group of independent experts on April 22.

In particular, the document mentions the former deputy of the Bundestag, Eduard Lintner, who was a PACE member from 1999 to 2010. The authors of the report call the representative of the Christian-Social Union "the key lobbyist" of Azerbaijan. From 2012 to 2014, the German politician through front companies registered in the UK was allegedly transferred more than 819 thousand euros from Baku. In turn, Lintner himself claims he received money from a nongovernmental organization based in Baku.

Another suspect is representative of the Christian Democratic Union Karin Strenz. According to the authors of the report, Lintner allegedly hired her to work through the consulting company Line M-Trade, which was financed by Baku and was lobbying for Azerbaijan's interests. Later, Strenz said she did not know about the source of the company's financing.

Bribes Exceeding EUR Two Million Alleged

The report also mentions the Italian politician Luca Volonte. With regard to the former leader of the European People's Party faction in PACE in late 2016, a preliminary investigation was launched on suspicion of bribery from representatives of Azerbaijan, which allegedly exceeded 2 million euros. Earlier, in January 2015, PACE did not adopt a critical resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Volonte supposedly played a significant role in this decision, the authors of the report note.-- 0--