Eva Kaili, the European Parliament vice-president dismissed for her links to the scheme of bribes paid by Qatar to MEPs and parliamentary assistants, has confessed that she knew about the large amounts of cash in her house and that she asked her father to keep some of it, but has not admitted her involvement in the corrupt dealings, for which her partner, Francesco Giorgi, also arrested, has taken the blame.
The Greek Social Democrat has been in prison since her arrest more than a week ago and this Thursday a hearing will be held at the Court of First Instance in Brussels to decide whether she should continue in prison, as the judicial authorities have already decreed for two other defendants, Giorgi himself and the former Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri.
Meanwhile, the newspaper ‘Le Soir’, which has had access to the investigation, published Tuesday that Kaili has already admitted to investigators that he asked his father to hide part of the thousands of euros in his home, who took part in a suitcase to the Sofitel hotel where he was staying in the European district.
It was precisely the role of Kaili’s father that allowed the police to act despite the MEP immunity of the then vice-president of the European Parliament, as they considered that she was in flagrante delicto.
Giorgi, for whom the Court confirmed the pre-trial detention on the 14th, has confessed before the examining magistrate his participation in an organization that allegedly received bribes from Qatar and Morocco to gain political and economic weight in the EU through its influence in the European Parliament.
The investigators see in the former Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri the ringleader of the plot that allegedly used to reach the MEPs of the NGO ‘Fight Impunity’, an organization in which Giorgi also participated and had «honorary» members such as the former Greek Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos and the former High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, the Italian Socialist Federica Mogherini.
Panzeri’s wife, Maria Colleoni, and daughter were arrested in Italy for their alleged involvement in the corruption scheme and the country’s justice system has given the green light to the extradition of the former to Belgium, where authorities suspect she played an active role in the scheme. Colleoni’s defense, however, has advanced that it will appeal the decision, reports the Italian press.
In addition, according to ‘Le Soir’ both Giorgi and Panzeri point in their statements to the Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella, who has already been questioned by the police and his home searched but remains at liberty.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
