Eduard Lintner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the GermanBundestag | |
| In office 1976–2009 | |
| Parliamentary group | CDU/CSU |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-11-04)4 November 1944 (age 81) |
| Political party | Christian Social Union in Bavaria |
| Alma mater | University of Würzburg |
| Awards | Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany |
Eduard Lintner (born 4 November 1944 inMarktlangendorf,Sudetenland) is a German politician andlobbyist. From 1976 to 2009 he served as amember of the German Bundestag.
He also served from 1991 to 1998 asParliamentary State Secretary for theFederal Secretary of the Interior and from 1992 to 1998 he was the Drug Enforcement Officer in the Federal Government.
In 2017, it was revealed that Lintner had lobbied on behalf of the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan and has been involved in theAzerbaijani laundromat scandal, which was a complexmoney-laundering scheme, used to pay off European politicians in an attempt to whitewash Azerbaijan's reputation abroad.[1]
After graduating from school inCham in 1966, Lintner studiedjurisprudence at theJulius Maximilian University of Würzburg. In 1973 he passed the secondstate examination and worked in the administration of the State ofBavaria until 1976 and subsequently worked as a councilor in theKitzingen district office. In 1981 he was admitted to the bar inBad Neustadt.[2]
Lintner joined theCSU and theJunge Union (JU) in 1962, while still at school. From 1970 to 1972 he was chairman of the JU district association forWürzburg and from 1972 to 1978 chairman of the JU district association ofLower Franconia.[3]
From 1972 to 1974 Lintner was elected member of the municipal council ofErlabrunn.
From1976 to 2009 he was amember of the German Bundestag. From 1982 to 1990 also served as chairman of the German Politics and Berlin Issues working group of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group.[3][2]
After thefederal elections in 1990, Lintner was appointedParliamentary State Secretary to theFederal Minister of the Interior in the federal government led byChancellorHelmut Kohl on 24 January 1991. From 27 August 1992, he was also the Federal Government's first drug commissioner. After the 1998 Bundestag elections, he left the office on 26 October 1998.
In 1999 Lintner became a member of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and theWestern European Union. From 2002 to 2005 he was chairman of the Legal and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe.[4][5]
Eduard Lintner was chairman of the Lower Franconia District Association of the Bavarian Red Cross until 2017 and has been its honorary member ever since.[6]
In his political career, Eduard Lintner has focused on maintaining relations with the states of Latin America and the South Caucasus. As part of this activity, he was also the initiator of the Bundestag resolution to shape Germany's relations with the states of the South Caucasus.[7]After he stopped running for theBundestag in the 2009 elections, Lintner founded the "Society for the Promotion of German-Azerbaijani Relations" based in Berlin and has been its sole managing partner ever since.[8]
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 bycreationists or supporters of "intelligent design" and to classify them as a threat to freedom and democracy in Europe. The resolution aimed to supportDarwin'stheory 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 ofAzerbaijan, which is known for serious human rights violations and heavy crackdown on opposition. He was on the board of trustees of theGerman-Azerbaijani Forum, a lobbying association that is close to theautocratic Azerbaijani regime, which was described byLobbycontrol 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 ofDanske Bank in Estonia as part of an "Azerbaijani laundromat" money laundering scheme.[14] According to a report published by theEuropean Stability Initiative, Lintner organized an election observation delegation for thepresidential 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 fromfront 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 thePanama Papers.[18]
TheFrankfurt 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 colleagueKarin 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]
In January 2024 German prosecutors brought bribery and corruption charges against Eduard Lintner and another CDU member -Axel Fischer.[23][24] Lintner was found guilty of bribery on 30 July 2025 by a court inMunich. The judge considered it proven, that between 2006 and 2008 Lintner received some 4 million Euros from Azerbaijan usingshell corporations. Money from Azerbaijan was then passed on to Parliamentary Assembly membersAxel Fischer andKarin Strenz. Lintner was sentenced to 18 month in prison, but the 88-year old was granted probation.[25]
Between 2012 and 2014, when he was no longer an MP, his foundation received €819,500.