In preventive detention since December 9 in the Brussels prison of Haren, the Greek socialist eva kaili appears this Thursday, December 22, before the court of first instance in Brussels. A view in which it must be decided whether the former vice president of the European Parliament continues to be detained or is releasedwith or without precautionary measures.
Although his lawyers say he pleads not guilty, Kaili herself confessed to the judge on the day of her arrest that she was the one who asked her father to hide a suitcase full of money allegedly coming from Qatari bribes, as revealed by the Belgian newspaper le soir. She also admits that she knew about her husband’s relationship, Francesco Giorgiowith the alleged leader of the plot, the former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeriand that he knew that briefcases of money were passing through his apartment.
The arrest of Kaili’s father red-handed -when he was trying to flee the Sofitel hotel in the European quarter of Brussels loaded with a suitcase full of 50-euro bills- became the main blow of the massive Belgian police operation against corruption in the Eurochamber.
[De las reuniones de Eva Kaili en Qatar a la redada policial en Bruselas: así se fraguó el Qatargate]
As it was a flagrant crime, the vice president of the European Parliament was left without immunity and the security forces were able to search her home, where they found more money and gifts. The father was released after testifying before the judge.
“The defendant acknowledges having instructed her father to hide the money”, says the judge in the case, Michel Claise, in the arrest warrant against Kaili. “She declares that she was aware of her husband’s activity with Mr. Panzeri in the past and that suitcases of tickets have passed through her apartment,” the judge’s brief states.
The former vice president of the European Parliament panicked after the arrest of her husband, the first to fall in the police operation on December 9. In addition to asking her father to take the money, Kaili tried to warn two other MEPs, according to the arrest warrant. The identity of these two parliamentarians does not appear in the letter.
The former vice president’s husband has already admitted that was part of an organization used by both Qatar and Morocco (a country that until now has not appeared in any public statement from the Belgian prosecutor’s office) to buy influence in the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament, as it has also revealed le soir.
In the face of a dossier du Parquet Fédéral de suspicions de corruption, visant des personnes actives au sein du Parlement européen, la Police Judiciaire Fédérale a saisi près d’1.5 million d’euros lors de inquisitions menées en région bruxelloise. pic.twitter.com/2UfK2zNtnm
— Police Fédérale (@policefederale) December 14, 2022
For his part, Panzeri (who was supposedly the head of the plot from his position at the head of the NGO fight impunity) also partially admitted to the judge his participation in the facts and accused Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella. Tarabella’s office has been searched and sealed, but so far he has not been arrested or charged.
Both Panzeri’s wife and daughter have been arrested in Italyto also be part of the plot. Both They traveled to Morocco in June in a hearing whose objective was “to bring possible retribution for interference activities to the benefit of Morocco”, according to a document from the Belgian intelligence service published by le soir. The Italian justice has already approved the delivery of Panzeri’s wife to Belgium and is processing the case of her daughter.
The corruption scandal already affects a former European commissioner, the Greek conservative Dimitris Avramopouloswho held the Interior and Immigration portfolio between 2014 and 2029. Avramopoulos has received 60,000 euros from Fight Immunitythe cover for the corruption plot, of whose board of directors he was a part along with other personalities such as the former head of community diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, or the former French Prime Minister of the Interior, Bernard Cazeneuve.
Avramopoulos, Mogehrini and Cazeneuve resigned as soon as the scandal broke out, but the newspaper La Stampa has now revealed that the Greek was paid. “Payments have occurred for one year, between February 2021 and February 2022, at the rate of 5,000 euros per month, declared and taxed in Greece“, has confirmed the ex-commissioner himself.
Avramopoulos received the green light from the Commission itself, Ursula von der Leyento join Fight Immunity (not on the EU lobbying register) after leaving office. The Community Executive has promised to review the case in case there was any error.
