He is the first Belgian personality implicated in this scandal. MEP Marc Tarabella, arrested on February 10, was charged and placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday in the investigation carried out in Belgium on suspicion of interference by Qatar and Morocco in the European Parliament. The 59-year-old elected socialist was imprisoned by the investigating judge after his indictment for ” corruption “, “money laundering” And “belonging to a criminal organization”announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Eric van der Sijpt, spokesperson for the federal prosecution.
Implicated by the key suspect in the case, the former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, Marc Tarabella claims his innocence. “He never received the slightest gift or the slightest sum of money against any position whatsoever”reaffirmed his lawyer, Maxim Töller, on the RTL Belgium channel on Saturday evening. “The prudence would have been not to put someone in prison on the simple words of a person who admits to being corrupt”added M.e Töller, saying to himself ” surprised “ by the decision of Judge Michel Claise.
Suitcases of cash
Three other people, including Greek MEP Eva Kaili, are already imprisoned in this scandal which broke out on December 9, 2022 and led to a wave of arrests in Brussels. That day, Belgian investigators got their hands on around 1.5 million euros in cash in suitcases or bags discovered in particular at the Brussels homes of Mme Kaili and Pier Antonio Panzeri, also imprisoned. Both Moroccan and Qatari authorities have firmly denied any corruption.
Mr. Panzeri, a former socialist MEP (2004-2019) who became an NGO leader in Brussels, admitted in January to investigators that he had orchestrated this fraud. The sixty-year-old Italian, who is the “repentant” of the file, has undertaken to make precise statements on the system of corruption and the people involved, in exchange for a sentence limited to one year in prison. According to the Belgian press, he claimed in December 2022 before the investigators to have paid Mr. Tarabella “between 120,000 and 140,000 euros” on several occasions for his assistance in matters relating to Qatar. “Defamation! » protested Saturday Me Toller.
The name of Marc Tarabella had appeared very early when this scandal broke out. As of December 10, his home near Liège had been searched, but no cash had been discovered. He had not been arrested. Belgian justice had to wait for the end of the procedure for lifting immunity in Parliament, on February 2, to consider any coercive measure.
change of tone
In the European Parliament, Mr. Tarabella spoke a lot about the attribution of the organization of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, and some MEP colleagues were surprised at his change of tone as the event approached. The one who called“casting error” in 2015 this award by FIFA had welcomed in November 2022 in plenary session the ” progress “ of the emirate on the issue of workers’ rights.
In the same investigation, another socialist MEP, the Italian Andrea Cozzolino, was placed under house arrest in Italy on Saturday, the day after his arrest under an arrest warrant issued by Belgian justice. He had been deprived of his parliamentary immunity on February 2 like Mr. Tarabella.