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Former MP of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Robert Walter whose controversial report “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” was rejected at the Parliamentary Assembly plenary session in 2016, appeared to have been involved in “Azerbaijani Laundromat” corruption scandal.

To remind, in September, a consortium of European newspapers and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published reports on money laundering and slush fund scheme. The report revealed about $2.9 billion laundering scheme operated by the Azerbaijani authorities, which was used to bribe high level EU politicians.

As reported by the European Stability Initiative, a think tank for South East Europe and enlargement, Robert Walter had a long history of defending autocracies in the Council of Europe.

“Whenever there was a debate involving Azerbaijan, he would speak out, taking the side of the regime. In January 2013, he voted and spoke out against a resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In October 2013, he led one of the most scandalous election monitoring missions in the history of PACE, again to Azerbaijan. He praised the "sound technical preparation" and "more open electoral debate" and concluded – against all evidence presented by long-term monitors of the OSCE-ODIHR – that the 2013 elections had been "free, fair and transparent," the Initiative writes in its recent newsletter, suggesting Walter had built a career in PACE on defending the human rights record of autocrats against criticism.

As the source reveals, Walter was later hired by the Macedonian government, receiving 7,000 Euro a month, plus expenses, to lobby for government interests. His service as the official documents suggest was “advising Macedonian delegation on the election of Judge to the European Court of Human Rights and other matters under debate in the Parliamentary Assembly."

Walter appeared to have lobbied for a government –backed Macedonian judge at the European Court whose candidacy didn’t’ received the relevant Committee recommendation.