The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will appoint three independent experts to lead an investigation into accusations that the Azerbaijani government has successfully attempted to bribe numerous members of the Parliamentary Assembly.
The decision will be formally approved at the plenary session of the Assembly on April 25.
The “Caviargate” scandal of 2013 first suggested that several members of PACE had been ‘purchased’ by the Azerbaijani government to vote against adopting and approving the Strasser report, which asserted the existence of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
As a result, the report was not adopted.
MPs that were fingered out in the incident were accused of having accepted money, expensive carpets, free trips to Baku, luxury hotel rooms and other items.
More than 60 PACE members demanded an independent investigation into this matter in January of 2017, in addition to Transparency International.
Former vice-president of PACE, Luca Volonte, will soon face trial in Italy for allegedly accepting $2.9 million euros from the Azerbaijani government for his help in ensuring that the Strasser report was not accepted.
In Italy, former vice-president of PACE Luca Volonte soon also be produced before the court. Representatives of the Azerbaijani government $ 2.9 million. It is claimed the euro.
Meanwhile, PACE President Pedro Agramunt’s visit to Syria and meeting with Bashar al-Assad may force the PACE leader to resign.
