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--
-
- Social
- 22 April 2018 13:09
-
- Question-answer
- 23 April 2018 04:29
In World
-
Tucker Carlson, a prominent conservative journalist and television host, will become the next White House press secretary, the team of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday. The decision marks a surprising yet strategic move as Trump prepares for his return to the Oval Office.
-
Donald Trump, who secured a victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, met with incumbent President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. The meeting marks the first time the two have met since their contentious debate earlier in the year.
-
Iran hanged a 26-year-old man for a second time Wednesday months after a previous execution was halted half a minute in, an NGO said.
-
Thirty-five people were killed in southern China after a man plowed his car into crowds exercising at an outdoor sports center on Monday evening, according to police, in the country’s deadliest known attack on the public in a decade.
Leave a review