The investigation for alleged corruption involving Qatar is widening. The European Parliament announced on Monday January 2 that it had launched an “emergency procedure” to lift, at the request of the Belgian judicial authorities, the immunity of two MEPs in the context of this investigation.
The two elected officials concerned are the Italian Andrea Cozzolino and the Belgian Marc Tarabella, both belonging to the S & D group (Social Democrats), according to sources familiar with the matter. Both are targeted as part of the investigation which led Belgian investigators to arrest the vice-president of the institution, the Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili, on December 9, 2022.
“Responding to a request from the Belgian judicial authorities, I have launched an urgent procedure to lift the immunity of two members of Parliament. There will be no impunity, absolutely none,” the President of Parliament said on Twitter on Monday. European, Roberta Metsola.
“The officials will find this Parliament on the side of the law. Corruption cannot pay and we will do everything to fight it,” she also said.
Four people charged
Eva Kaili did not benefit from her parliamentary immunity because the offense had been found in flagrante delicto, “bags of tickets” being discovered in her apartment. She was stripped of her title of Vice-President of the European Parliament on December 13, 2022 by an almost unanimous vote of MEPs.
Eva Kaili’s companion, the Italian Francesco Giorgi, who is also Andrea Cozzolino’s parliamentary assistant, the former Italian socialist MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, as well as an NGO manager, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca , were also among those arrested in connection with the investigation. These four personalities have been charged with “belonging to a criminal organization”, “money laundering” and “corruption”, in a scandal that has caused shock waves in the European Parliament and tensions between Qatar and the EU.
Roberta Metsola will formally communicate to MEPs the request for an urgent procedure to waive the immunity of Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino during their next plenary session, on January 16 in Strasbourg. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will then have to examine it, behind closed doors, and pronounce a proposal for a decision, which will ultimately be voted on by all MEPs in plenary. The President of Parliament “asked all departments and committees to give priority to this procedure, with a view to its conclusion on February 13, 2023”, specifies the press release.
As of December 13, the Belgian Socialist Party had decided to suspend Marc Tarabella from his membership. And on December 16, the Italian Democratic Party announced that it would “preventively” suspend Andrea Cozzolino from its membership register, “until the closure of the ongoing investigations into the ‘Qatargate’ scandal”, so as to “protect the ‘party image’.
Investigators who get their hands on 1.5 million euros
“Since the beginning of this file, Marc Tarabella has repeated that he is at the disposal of justice and has even asked to be heard quickly in order to be able to defend himself”, reacted this Monday his lawyer, Maxim Töller, in a statement sent. at AFP. “He also said that he would not hide behind his parliamentary immunity, having nothing to reproach himself for. He therefore supports his waiver of immunity if it is requested,” he added.
In Belgium, the investigation gave rise to twenty searches between December 9 and 12, including within the European Parliament. The home of Marc Tarabella had been searched on December 10 in this context, according to a judicial source.
In total, Belgian investigators got their hands on 1.5 million euros in cash, according to a judicial source, seized from the homes of Pier-Antonio Panzeri and Eva Kaili, as well as in a suitcase carried by the father of it.