Dispute over immunity
EU politician Kaili fails in court
January 17, 2024, 1:22 a.m
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The former Vice President of the EU Parliament has had a turbulent year: Kaili loses her office due to suspicion of corruption and even has to go to prison. In a fraud case she invoked her immunity and failed.
MEP Eva Kaili, who is suspected of fraud and corruption, has suffered defeat in her fight against the lifting of her parliamentary immunity. According to information from the evening, the EU court rejected Kaili’s lawsuit against the planned proceedings as inadmissible. The former parliamentary vice-president had tried to reject the request of the European Attorney General Laura Kövesi to lift her immunity.
The Greek woman also viewed a decision by Parliament President Roberta Metsola as unlawful. This had decided to announce the motion in the plenary session of Parliament and refer it to the Legal Affairs Committee.
The background to the European Attorney General’s application is an investigation into the administration of parliamentary remuneration for assistants and the suspicion of fraud to the detriment of the EU budget. This case is separate from the bribery scandal in which Kaili is said to be involved. During the investigation, the Belgian public prosecutor’s office did not request that Kaili’s immunity be lifted because, in their view, Kaili had been caught red-handed in an alleged crime.
Corruption and money laundering
The bribery scandal that became known at the end of 2022 is about alleged influence on decisions of the EU Parliament by the governments of Qatar and Morocco. The public prosecutor’s office accuses several defendants of corruption, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization. The 45-year-old Kaili is one of them. The Greek woman was arrested at the beginning of December 2022. In April 2023, she was allowed to leave prison after around four months and was placed under house arrest under electronic monitoring. This coercive measure was then lifted in May.
To what extent the allegations against Kaili can be proven is still unclear. The public prosecutor’s office recently confirmed that possible formal errors must also be examined in the investigation. By mid-May of this year, it will be examined whether her immunity was violated during the investigations against Kaili. Kaili can theoretically still take action against the EU court’s ruling before the European Court of Justice.