Suspicions of “corruption” and “money laundering” in an organized gang in the European Parliament. Greek Socialist MEP Eva Kaili, one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, was arrested Friday evening in Brussels in an investigation into suspicions of corruption involving Qatar, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
In Athens, the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) of which Ms. Kaili is a member announced in the evening that she was “dismissed”. Among the four arrested are a parliamentary assistant attached to the Socialists and Democrats (S & D) group, who is the companion of Ms. Kaili, as well as the former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, also a socialist. The other two are an NGO director and a trade union leader of Italian nationality.
Earlier Friday, four people were arrested in the Belgian capital. These arrests come within the framework of an investigation by a financial judge into suspicions of corruption by a “Gulf country” within the European hemicycle, explained the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office.
The country is not named by the prosecution. According to the Belgian newspaper The evening, it is Qatar, whose officials allegedly tried to bribe an elected Italian socialist who was MEP from 2004 to 2019. For several months, Belgian investigators “suspect a Gulf country of influencing the economic and political decisions of the European parliament , this by paying substantial sums of money or by offering significant gifts to third parties having a significant political and/or strategic position” within this institution. The gifts or benefits offered could be linked to Qatar’s desire to improve its maligned reputation for human rights and the treatment of workers.
Personalities with “a significant strategic position”
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, competent in Belgium for terrorism and organized crime cases, announced these arrests without identifying the suspects, their nationality, or naming the country on which these suspicions of corruption within one of the major institutions of the EU. But a source familiar with the matter also confirmed to AFP press reports that Qatar is the target, while those arrested are Italians or of Italian origin.
These are personalities having “a significant political and/or strategic position” within Parliament. According to the French daily The evening and the Flemish weekly Knackwho investigated jointly, the suspected former MEP is the Italian socialist Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who sat in this assembly from 2004 to 2019. This 67-year-old man, today at the head of an association for the fight against violations of human rights (baptized Fight Impunity), was arrested in Brussels at the same time as three other suspects.
The secretary general of the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI, or Ituc in English), the Italian Luca Visentini, would also be among those arrested, with Pier-Antonio Panzeri as well as a parliamentary assistant and an NGO director.
Around 600,000 euros in cash seized
Friday morning, as part of this investigation by a Brussels judge, 16 searches were carried out by the police in various municipalities in the Belgian capital (where the European Parliament has its headquarters). In addition to the four arrests, the police got their hands on “about 600,000 euros in cash”, as well as “computer equipment and mobile phones” whose contents will be analyzed.
“This operation was aimed in particular at parliamentary assistants working in the European Parliament. Among those arrested, there is a former European parliamentarian, ”says the prosecution.
In a very succinct message on its site, the CSI said it was “aware of the information circulating in the press”, but refused any comment “at this stage”.