Time.news – He would have liked to spend Christmas with his two-year-old daughter. It will not be like this: the former vice president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili remains in prison on charges of corruption, money laundering and criminal association as part of the Qatargate investigation. At least for another month. This was decided by the judges of the Council Chamber of the Brussels court who today ruled on the request for release.
In the morning she was taken to the Palace of Justice, in the heart of the luxurious Louise district, from the Haren prison where she has been held since 9 December. To defend her the two Greek lawyers, Andre’ Risopoulos and Michalis Dimitrakopoulos. “We have requested that Ms. Kaili be placed under the electronic bracelet surveillance regime,” the lawyers said at the end of the hearing around noon.
“With an order issued this morning, the Council Chamber extended EK’s preventive detention by one month”, was the response of the Court. “If an appeal against this decision is lodged within 24 hours, the interested party will appear before the indictment chamber of the Brussels Court of Appeal within fifteen days”, reads a note from the federal prosecutor’s office. “In the interest of the investigation, no further information will be provided at the moment”, concludes the prosecutor’s office.
Apparently Kaili’s “active collaboration” in the investigation was not considered sufficient to merit house arrest. “He actively collaborates with the investigation and disputes any allegations of corruption against him,” said the lawyer Risopoulos.
“I tell you that Mrs. Eva Kaili is innocent and has never been corrupted, ever”, confirmed her colleague Dimitrakopoulos, who arrived yesterday from Athens for the hearing and who already yesterday, after an interview with her that lasted four hours, she told reporters that her client “feels betrayed by her partner”, Francesco Giorgias well as his assistant in the European Parliament and central figure in the investigation, together with the former MEP Antonio Panzeri.
The lawyers don’t want to say anything else for now. And they complain that too much has been said so far. “You all know that I have decided not to communicate on this dossier, because the investigation
it must be done by the judicial authorities and it is not done elsewhere. For my part, I won’t make any other declaration”, explained Risopoulos. Also because “it would be prejudicial both for Mrs. Kaili’s defense and for ascertaining the truth in a dossier of this nature”, he added.
The lawyer, who practices in Brussels, complained about the leak, calling it a “frontal violation of the investigation secrecy” and of an “unprecedented extent”. “I’m not the only one who thinks so: the federal prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation,” she pointed out.