11:21, 12 January 2021

PACE member convicted for taking bribe from Azerbaijani officials

Luca Volonte. Photo by European People's Party https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Luca_Volontè#/media/File:EPP_Congress_2012._Day_1_(8094592436).jpg

A court in Milan found Luca Volonte, a former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), guilty of receiving EUR 500,000 for blocking the adoption of the report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. He has been sentenced to four years in prison, the "La Repubblica" newspaper writes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2016, it became known that in Italy, Luca Volonte, a former head of the European People's Party faction at the PACE, was accused of receiving EUR 2.39 million for supporting Azerbaijani officials. The Prosecutor's Office of Milan accused him of corruption and money laundering. However, Mr Volonte's advocates refuted the charges as absolutely groundless.

The prosecutors believe that Luca Volonte was promised EUR 10 million from the accounts of two Azerbaijani state funds. The payments were formalized as royalties for consulting services. Of this money, Volonte received about EUR 2.4 million. However, the prosecutors managed to prove the receipt of only EUR 0.5 million.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 12, 2021 at 07:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.