Eva Kaili and Francesco Giorgi in a file image /
Francesco Giorgi admits to the Police that Pier Antonio Panzeri led the bribery plot and exonerates his partner, the former Vice President of the European Parliament who will testify on the 22nd
The Italian Francesco Giorgi, partner of the former vice-president of the European Parliament Eva Kaili, has admitted his involvement in the bribery scheme that affects the European Parliament and pointed to Pier Antonio Panzeri, Socialist MEP between 2014 and 2019, as the mastermind of the plot. Giorgi has He was one of the three arrested for corruption who testified this morning before the judge. The fourth person arrested is Eva Kaili herself, but her appearance before the magistrate will take place on the 22nd. The investigators do not rule out new arrests in the coming days, as more information about the case becomes known and evidence is gathered about some of the politicians and aides peppered in the web of “gifts” and bribes.
Panzeri had already been mentioned in the Belgian media as the main leader of this organization linked to Qatar and Morocco, after police investigations indicated that he would have received money from both countries. In fact, the ex-parliamentarian’s wife and daughter are under arrest in Italy and Belgium has requested his handover. In the house of Panzeri, who is also provisionally locked up and has been accused of corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization, the Police discovered 600,000 euros in cash.
Giorgi, 35, has expressed his regret for the events and acknowledged that his role within the network was to manage the cash box. “I did it all for money that he did not need,” he specified after reporting that he charged about 2,500 euros for his assistant job. Visibly nervous, the young man explained to the judge that he met Panzeri in 2009 and that he became an assistant to the MEP, which introduced him to community political circles. When the socialist representative could not renew his position in 2019, Giorgi affirms that he continued to work with him out of gratitude and that is when he immersed himself in “the organization”.
The defendant has also pointed out other presumed implicates, reports the Belgian newspaper ‘Le Soir’. According to Giorgi has confessed before the magistrate, it would be the Belgian socialist MEP Marc Tarabella, whose address has already been searched by the security forces, and the Italian Andrea Cozzolino, for whom he himself worked as an assistant. Tarabella has denied any relationship with this case “nor having ever received the slightest offer, nor the slightest amount of money from anyone.”
Another parliamentarian, María Arena, from Belgium, has publicly denounced that one of her assistants is also implicated, with which the bribery scandal would directly affect at least a dozen people. The Arena itself, close to Pier Antonio Panzeri, has been temporarily removed from the presidency of the Human Rights subcommittee.
The ambassador in Poland
Of all the people arrested, the most prominent is Eva Kaili, who has already been stripped of her position as vice-president of the European Parliament and will remain in provisional prison until the next 22nd when she appears before a judge. Aged 42, she has a two-year-old daughter with Francesco Giorgi. Her lawyer has announced that the former Greek leader will plead “not guilty” and has unloaded on her partner any explanation about the 150,000 euros found in her apartment inside plastic bags. Kaili’s father also seized 600,000 euros when he took them in a suitcase. Giorgi has assumed full responsibility and has asked the judge to “release my partner, she must be with our daughter”, indicates the newspaper ‘La Republicca’.
The development of the investigations consolidates the ‘Moroccan route’, in addition to the Qatari one, as the origin of the bribes. ‘Le Soir’ specifically cites the Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, and two agents of this country’s secret service. Right now, all the MEPs who have spoken in favor of Qatar and Morocco in Parliament are under scrutiny by the Chamber and, in some cases, by investigators. The purpose of the bribes would have been precisely to encourage positive pronouncements on Qatar and Rabat and achieve greater influence within the community decision-making bodies.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, promised this afternoon before the leaders of the European Union gathered at the summit in Brussels that she will undertake a reform process aimed at deterring new corruption within the European institutions. She has said that those politicians and aides for whom “a bag of cash is worth it” will be “discovered.” She has also advanced that “existing gaps in relation, for example, to the activities of former deputies, the transparency register or greater control of who can access the European Parliament” will be resolved.
The renovation will begin immediately. Metsola wants to implement it at the beginning of next year and will put the magnifying glass on the code of conduct of MEPs and their relations with third countries, not only with Qatar. Investigations by the Belgian Police indicate that there are “serious suspicions” of people linked to autocratic governments, “influence peddling” to try to subdue the EU. Only ‘Qatargate’ could exceed fifty people involved.