The findings of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) regarding the pro-Azerbaijani funding of the Congressmen should be publicly released, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) statement reads.
The request is addressed to the Committee on Ethics to which OCE is accountable. ANCA Chairman Kenneth Hachikian addressed the letter to the Committee members Charles W. Dent and Linda T. Sanchez.
“The Committee should not to 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 statement reads.
ANCA urges defenders of government transparency to communicate their request to the Committee and make the 70-page analysis public.
Earlier, the Committee cleared 10 members of the House of Representatives and 30 members of Congressional staff, who took part in the conference “U.S.-Azerbaijan Convention: Vision for the Future.” The Committee decided that these politicians didn’t knowingly violate the law, since their trip was nominally funded by the Assembly Friend of Azerbaijani (AFAZ) and groups connected with the Turcik American Association (TAA). The latter apparently concealed the fact that the trip was actually funded by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).
The Committee on Ethics sent the investigation results to the Department of Justice, but refused to release them, in defiance of its usual practice.
Houston Chronicle was the first newspaper to refer in July 2014 to the suspicions regarding the trips to Azerbaijan. It was followed by Washington Post in May 2015, which mentioned about the aforementioned report prepared by the Committee.
Center for Responsive Politics referred to the question on why the Committee is concealing the data. The article is available here: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/08/ethics-chair-received-contributions-from-donors-linked-to-groups-in-azerbaijan-probe/