The key hero of Panama scandal was given new power under the Constitution, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Naira Karapetyan, said the aforementioned at the session on Tuesday, refering to Aliyev’s family.

 “I strongly believe that having the topic of Panama Papers on the agenda will keep many politicians away from dirty money and offshore scandals. The draft resolution reads: “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is very much concerned about the scope of tax avoidance and evasion in modern societies, now even demonstrably involving well-known companies and public personalities, who should be role models of ethical behaviour. The Assembly considers that a higher standard of ethics in politics and in the business world is essential to uphold our economic, social and democratic systems,” she said.  

According to Karapetyan, a few months ago the world was shocked by Panama Papers, where the President of Azerbaijan and his family – his wife, daughter, sister, etc. - appeared in a very honorary place.

“The billions of dollars of these offshore corporations owned and controlled by Aliyevs and also those dollars which are spent on weaponry and military might have been spent on real reforms and democratization of Azerbaijan.   

While the first family ladies have their nice and leisure life, having billion dollars of income that even ten generations of family will not be able to spend, Aliyev’s regime has prolonged its ruling era by adopting new Constitution which gives unlimited freedom to Aliyev’s clan.  By the way, this so-called Constitution was very strongly condemned by Venice Commission,” Karapetyan noted.

In her words, Azerbaijan is a land of fire, but this is not the fire of life but that of war, horror and crime. “Today we have learnt that a corrupted high ranking politician is a serious danger not only for the rule of law but also for one of the main international human rights, the right to live. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has done great work and many countries took adequate steps. It would be highly appreciated to see adequate actions in all countries, at least no actions done, but not quite opposite by having new Constitution with new rights for Panama Papers. In the text of draft resolution we see the following: “the Assembly acknowledges the need to restore citizens’ trust in the European democratic system…”