Eduard Lintner

In 2007 Eduard Lintner made the headlines as for voting against resolution 1580 (2007) in the Council of Europe.[9] The resolution calls on the member states to actively counter the views expressed by creationists or supporters of "intelligent design" and to classify them as a threat to freedom and democracy in Europe. The resolution aimed to support Darwin's theory of evolution in teaching of biology in public schools in Europe. Lintner denied supporting creationist theories and explained his voting behavior by saying that the dangers of creationism were greatly exaggerated in the text of the resolution and that with this resolution the Council of Europe was improperly attempting to intervene in the educational sovereignty of the German federal states.[10]

Eduard Lintner has been actively lobbying for the government of Azerbaijan, which is known for serious human rights violations and heavy crackdown on opposition. He was on the board of trustees of the German-Azerbaijani Forum, a lobbying association that is close to the autocratic Azerbaijani regime, which was described by Lobbycontrol as a "dubious Azerbaijan network" and made the headlines in the wake of the "Aserbaidschan-Affäre" lobbying scandal in the German Bundestag.[11][12][13] Bank records show that Lintner received multiple payments through a branch of Danske Bank in Estonia as part of an "Azerbaijani laundromat" money laundering scheme.[14] According to a report published by the European Stability Initiative, Lintner organized an election observation delegation for the presidential elections in Azerbaijan in 2013. The delegation published a positive assessment of the elections, although independent election observers had pointed out extensive election fraud.[15] Lintner, on the other hand, stated that the elections "met German standards". Two weeks later, Lintner received 61,000 euros from Azerbaijan. His organization received a total of 819,500 euros from front companies between 2012 and 2014.[16] Lintner, in turn, transferred large sums of money to pro-regime politicians in Germany and Belgium.[17] This was also made known through the Panama Papers.[18]

The Frankfurt public prosecutor's office is investigating Lintner on the initial suspicion of corruption; the police searched several offices and private premises in Germany and Belgium. Lintner's CDU parliamentary group colleague Karin Strenz was also investigated until her death on 21 March 2021.[19][20]

In 2018, Eduard Lintner and Karin Strenz were banned from the Council of Europe and its parliamentary assembly for life due to investigations by the EU.[21][22]