Jagland urges Agramunt to examine corruption reports in PACE
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland sent a letter to President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt urging to examine the corruption announcements within the circle of PACE lawmakers.
Jagland urged Agramunt to use his powers and “immediately speed up the decision on establishing an independent external investigation body”. Jagland reminded that the issue was discussed on March 9 and 10 in Madrid, however the bureau didn’t agree upon the investigative body, therefore the issue was included in the agenda of the April session.
The Milan Police and Prosecution initiated a criminal case on former chairman of the European People’s Party faction in PACE and former MP of the Christian Democratic Party Luca Volonte. Volonte is accused in accepting 2,4 million Euros in bribes from Azerbaijan during 2012-2013.
Azerbaijan was using Volonte in the Italian Parliament and PACE. The bribe was given to him by head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Suleymanov, and coordination works were carried out by an Azerbaijani lobbyist organization in Brussels. Volonte is charged with bribery and money laundering.
