The FIFA World Cup is over, but Qatar will still be in the news. This Tuesday, December 20, Belgian media and Italians report that the Greek MEP Eva Kaili, the former vice-president of the European Parliament, has partially confessed, as part of the investigation into accusations of corruption involving the emirate with certain MEPs. Also, Francesco Giorgi, parliamentary assistant and companion of Eva Kaili, confessed to having influenced, with others, the work of his parliamentary group, in order to accentuate the influence of Qatar, but also that of Morocco, within the Parliament. European.
What are the confessions of MEP Eva Kaili?
A member of the centre-left Greek party PASOK-KIBNAL, MEP Eva Kaili, 44, was arrested on 9th December last and remanded in custody in a Belgian prison. On Tuesday, she made a partial confession to the police about her involvement in the large-scale corruption scandal targeting the European Parliament. Hearing for her appearance before the Council Chamber on Thursday, she admitted to having kept a bag full of cash at her home – the authorities estimate the sum at 1.5 million euros – and admitted to having asked his father to conceal a large part of it, before the police searched his apartment. This one was arrested in Brussels, with the suitcase filled with banknotes.
The guilt of Eva Kaili is therefore becoming clearer, while the European Parliament voted on Thursday to suspend the privileges of access to the institution to Qatari lobbyists, while the investigation takes place. Qatar, which rejects any accusation of “gifts” made to elected officials in order to make its interests heard, deplored this decision, underlining “a negative effect on regional and global cooperation in security matters”, without forgetting to mention the file sensitive of the moment, “energy scarcity”.
Who are the other protagonists targeted?
Eva Kaili’s tongue is not the only one to have loosened. Indeed, his companion, who is also a parliamentary assistant, Francesco Giorgi, particularly charged the former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, presented as the head of the corrupting organisation. According to him, Panzeri is a useful pawn of Morocco, which, like Qatar, would have tried to interfere in European affairs. Defeated in the 2019 European elections, Panzeri continues his lobbying work through the NGO Fight Impunity, founded precisely in 2019, and therefore suspected of being the screen for a corruption enterprise in the service of the kingdom. The authorities are particularly seeking to clarify its role in the case of negotiations around Western Sahara, the control of which is disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front, an armed political movement supported by Algeria.
But the latter does not intend to collect everything, and himself cited to the investigators the name of the Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, another alleged beneficiary of the bribes from Doha. As early as December 10, the home of this member of the delegation for Relations with the Arabian Peninsula had been searched. His electronic devices were seized, but he has not yet been heard by the police. Finally, another elected official targeted by the investigation was made public, that of Andrea Cozzolino, member of the parliamentary delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries.