Caviar diplomacy
The ESI also added to the list of "friends of Azerbaijan" the Belgian Paul Wille, Eduard Lintner from Bavaria, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu from Turkey, Robert Walter from Britain, and a number of Russian representatives.
Nevertheless, the preliminary result of PACE monitoring, presented by Paul Ville, noted the compliance of preparations for elections with international standards, as well as transparent and effective work of the organizers.
[2] Investigations of the ESI have received resonance in Russian and international media: EU Observer,[8] Politiken,[9] DR,[10] Radio Sarajevo,[11] BBC,[12] Der Tagesspiegel,[13] Africa Intelligence,[5] Neue Zürcher Zeitung,[14] The Guardian[1] and others.
It later emerged that a number of EU representatives traveled to Azerbaijan unofficially and on the dime of Azerbaijani organizations, which was regarded by European Voice as "stupidity or corruption", these trips were labeled "electoral tourism".
[20] The US State Department in its turn discredited the observers from the House of Representatives, describing the elections as not meeting international standards, and expressing solidarity with the ODIHR's assessment.
The resolution also called on the European authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of allegations of corruption against President Aliyev and his family members, and to consider imposing targeted sanctions against officials related to the persecution.
[24] In June 2016, the Milan prosecutor's office brought charges of corruption and money laundering to Luca Volontè, the former head of the European People's Party faction in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
According to the ESI, the money went to bribing Italian and other politicians who voted against PACE resolutions and reports condemning human rights violations in Azerbaijan.
[25] In the documentary film shown on Italian television, Volonte also confirmed the receipt of €2.39 million, arguing that this money was transferred from a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Elkhan Suleymanov for consultations on agriculture.
After the publication in the media, Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, called on Agramut to personally provide an independent external investigative body without any further delay.
[44][45] In March 2019, Karin Strenz, a German parliament member from the ruling CDU party, was fined for failing to notify the Bundestag of additional earnings from Azerbaijan.
[48][42] On March 4, 2021, the German Bundestag deprived Axel Fischer of parliamentary immunity, who is being investigated by the BKA for receiving money from Azerbaijan to lobby its interests in the Council of Europe.
[49][50] Vice reported on the involvement of CDU MPs Axel Fischer, Mark Hauptmann, Thomas Bareiß and Olav Gutting in the "Azerbaijan affair".
[56][57] In April 2017, the Maltese press published documents according to which the top politicians of Malta and the wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat received millions of dollars from a bank controlled by Ilham Aliyev's daughter Leila.
According to the editorial investigation, Joseph Muscat made a trip to Baku in 2015, after which he called on Europe to give an objective assessment of the positive processes in Azerbaijan.
[60] His investigations are foremost about his colleagues in Sweden, but according to Canbäck similar trips have been arranged from several other countries, including Italy, France, Germany, Mexico and Peru.
[60] The trips, often all-inclusive with paid air tickets, VIP treatment, accommodations at luxury hotels etc., were usually arranged by an intermediator such as the Baku Press Club or the Azerbaijani Association active in the respective country.
[64] Following this one of the members of the RUMRA-group (Bogovič is the co-chairman of the group) - German MEP Niklas Nienaß resigned, stating that "Trust and transparency are the basis of integrity, both have been brocken.
Cuellar and his wife Imelda allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: Azerbaijan's state-owned oil company (SOCAR) and a Mexican bank.
In exchange for the bribes, Cuellar allegedly used his office to influence US foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan and to advise on legislative activity benefiting the Mexican bank.
[71] In September 2024, New York City mayor Eric Adams was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations from Turkey.
[72] According to an investigation by Politico, Edward Mermelstein, visited Azerbaijan with another Eric Adams official, Rana Abbasova, on an economic development trip in May 2023.
