Opposition Leaders Condemn Practice of Bribing European Deputies

Azerbaijani opposition leaders condemned the vicious practice, when the authorities give bribes to foreigners for the purpose of lobbying in the West.

In particular, another scandal broke out in connection with the accusations against the former Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Italian Luca Volonte. He is accused in his country of receiving 2.39 million euros for a vote in favor of the Azerbaijani government on the Strasser List. Milan prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on this fact, writes the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

"We talked for many years and wrote, citing facts that the Azerbaijani authorities are not only corrupted themselves, but also smear others with corruption. Several years ago, Austrian prosecutors revealed facts of corruption in the manufacture of the national currency of Azerbaijan. Recently emerged Panama and documents were discovered of new offshore accounts.

Now in Italy a criminal investigation has been launched into bribes from representatives of Azerbaijan.

The trouble is that the official Baku is not ashamed to give bribes," the chairman of the National Council of Democratic Forces Jamil Hasanli wrote on his Facebook page.

It is noteworthy that the Italian was given a bribe not for support of Azerbaijan in the issue of the protection of its territorial integrity, but to violate the resolution by Christoph Strasser, which spoke of the fate of 85 political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Then 128 PACE deputies voted against the resolution that gave free rein to the authorities for new mass repressions.

Hasanli said that back in 2010 at a conference in Switzerland, the head of the PACE Committee Dick Marty said the emissary of the Azerbaijani authorities offered him a good fee for a positive response about the upcoming parliamentary elections. Marty refused, but he was not sure that his colleagues did likewise.

Hasanli also recalls how the PACE delegation headed by British MP Robert Walter praised the presidential election of October 9, 2013, while the mission of the OSCE ODIHR identified a poor or very poor voting at 58% of polling stations. The exposing of Volonte confirmed in what shameful position PACE is.

In turn, the leader of the Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli also accused the government of damaging the country's image.

"They made the country’s image notorious with their offshore deals in Panama, acquisition of 38 houses in London, and bribery in Austria. They made the country’s image so notorious that the US Congressmen had to return the gifts received.

The country’s name was also made notorious in Montenegro, where from the name of a natural person half a billion was invested in a travel agency.

It's a shame that the Italian deputy was given 2.4 million EUR only in order to keep innocent people in prison.

Recall that, according to Italian media, the Volonte bribery case mentions the names of Azerbaijani MPs Elkhan Suleymanov and Muslum Mammadov.   -06D-