Anti-corruption rally to be held in Azerbaijan over billion-dollar slush fund allegations
Amid extensive corruption allegations made against Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, activists gather will in Baku today.
Azerbaijan’s government is alleged to be behind a $2.9 billion operation between 2012 and 2014, which channelled money out of the country to garner influence in Europe. Numerous Europeans have also been implicated in the allegations; the most prominent, Italian Luca Volante, rejected a report criticising Azerbaijan’s human rights record in 2013. Volante allegedly received $2.4 million through the operation.
In response to the allegations, the European Parliament last week called for an investigation into Azerbaijan’s attempts to influence European decision-makers. In its resolution, the parliament deemed corruption to be “one of the most neglected causes of human rights violations”.
Despite this, the resolution failed to detail any concrete proposals for investigating the allegations. As such, it is questionable whether any investigation will occur. Considering European officials have been implicated in the allegations, a failure to properly investigate the charges could be damaging to the credibility of European decision-making bodies.
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