Author of anti-Armenian report at PACE under investigation over suspicions of corruption
Rapporteur of Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Milica Marković has found herself at the center of a scandal. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports, Bosnia-Herzegovina's foreign ministry released a statement on January 23 that parliament member Milica Markovic is under investigation over suspicions of corruption in connection with reports she authored on Armenia and Azerbaijan for PACE.
The ministry said PACE had formed a commission with a mandate "to gather necessary documentation and needed information related to the possible corruptive actions" of three of its members, one of whom the statement said is Markovic.
To note, the investigation stems from an anti-Armenian report about Sarsang reservoir in Nagorno Karabakh, approved by the PACE Committee in January 2016 and ultimately adopted at the plenary session. Among many controversial formulations, the document claimed that "inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water."
Armenia’s deputy foreign minister stated then the report “brought grist to the mill of Azerbaijani propaganda whose purpose is to frustrate the talks on a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh problem.”
RFE/RL informs that the investigative body, which the foreign ministry statement said has significant power and a special budget and whose work is independent of the Committee of Ministers and PACE, should submit its first report by April 15, the source said.