Kocharyan: Corruption scandal in PACE around Azerbaijani delegation -  slap in the face of Europe

ArmInfo.Corruption scandal in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) around the Azerbaijani delegation is a slap in the face of Europe, 

Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan believes.

To the journalist's question  how Armenia can use these 

circumstances, Kocharyan said in particular: "Let's be frank. We are 

present at the hearing, and you say what step we can take. In 

reality, this is nothing more than a court - in a figurative sense, 

not from a legal point of view. What is happening all over Europe is 

evidence that the cup of patience is overflowing. " At the same time, 

he noted that people have become weaker, even European officials can 

not resist the temptation. He also drew attention to the fact that in 

the corruption scandal those parliamentarians whose powers are 

already expiring and they have no chance of re-election are mixed up.

Kocharian also considers it not accidental that Azerbaijan blames 

Armenia for all deadly sins. <What is not happening around - the 

Armenians are to blame. They say that the Aliyev family is not 

involved in this, however, it does not refute the fact. This is their 

official response. It turns out that in this country, where 

everything is under strict control, three billion have been exported 

without their knowledge, "Kocharian concluded.

The day before, the Guardian newspaper recalled the corruption 

scandal developing around the PACE since last year. The newspaper 

presented data of a journalistic investigation, according to which 

the Azerbaijani authorities used fictitious companies in the UK for 

laundering 2.9 billionAMD. This money was used to bribe European 

politicians who lobbied Azerbaijan's interests in the EU and blocked 

resolutions condemning human rights violations in the country. In the 

summer of 2016, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported 

that the Milan prosecutor's office accused the well-known Italian 

politician Luca Volonta, the former leader of the European People's 

Party faction in PACE, of receiving major bribes from the 

representatives of Azerbaijan. And in April this year, The Guardian 

revealed details of the corruption scandal in PACE with the 

participation of Baku. Then The Guardian reported that two people 

with high level experience of the Parliamentary Assembly of the 

Council of Europe (PACE) told The Guardian that they believe that 

Azerbaijan offered its members bribes for votes. This body consists 

of 324 delegates from national parliaments and meets four times a 

year in Strasbourg. <Arif Mammadov, a former Azerbaijani diplomat who 

became a dissident, said that members of the delegation from this 

oil-rich country in the Council of Europe had 30 million euros to 

lobby in the institutions of this organization, including the 

[Parliamentary] Assembly of the Council of Europe. He added that 

"everyone" in the Azerbaijani delegation heard this number, although 

"it was never recorded, it was said that this money was for bribes to 

members of delegations and PACE as a whole," the Mammadov edition 

quoted.