ANCA urges to release OCE findings on Azerbaijan travel scandal

PanARMENIAN.Net - A 70-page Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report dealing with "concerted, possibly criminal, efforts" by pro-Azerbaijani interests to secretly fund Congressional participation in an extravagant Baku conference should be released by the leadership of the U.S. House Ethics Committee, according to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a letter sent earlier this week to Chairman Charles Dent (R-PA) and Ranking Member Linda Sanchez (D-CA) of this panel, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian called for the release of the findings "in the interests of government transparency and the rights of a fully informed electorate."

He stressed: "The Committee should not withhold from American citizens any information involving foreign attempts to manipulate our democratic system or that, in the Committee’s own words, reveals 'evidence of concerted, possibly criminal, efforts' by any party - foreign or domestic - seeking any manner of undue influence with U.S. policymakers."

The House Ethics Committee, earlier this week, cleared 10 U.S. Representatives and over 30 Congressional staff who had been under investigation for allegedly accepting illegal foreign funding to participate in a 2013 conference, funded by the State oil company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR): "U.S.-Azerbaijan Convention: Vision for the Future."

The Committee found that the Members had not knowingly violated the law, since the nominal funders of the trip - the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ) and groups associated with the Turkic American Association (TAA) - had apparently concealed from the Congress the fact that SOCAR was, in reality, the true source of the junkets' financing.

The House Ethics Committee has referred the case to the Department of Justice, but refused to release the OCE findings. The OCE, an independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing and, as appropriate, referring allegations of Congressional misconduct to the Ethics Committee, typically have their findings released to the public after the investigation is concluded.