In the corruption scandal involving the European Parliament, one of the accused is said to have made a confession to the police and the investigating judge responsible. As the newspaper “Le Soir” reported on Thursday, it is Francesco G., parliamentary employee of the Social Democratic Group and partner of the deposed Vice President Eva Kaili.
He has thus admitted to being a member of a criminal organization used by both Qatar and Morocco to influence European affairs. Within the organization he was responsible for the administration of the bribe.
G. accused former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, director of a shadowy human rights organization, of being the head of the association. All three are in custody while a fourth suspect, lobbyist Niccolo F., was conditionally released Wednesday night. He must wear an electronic ankle bracelet. G. is also said to have incriminated two other Social Democratic MEPs: Marc Tarabella from Belgium and Andrea Cozzolino from Italy. Both were paid by Panzeri.
Who did the money belong to?
Tarabella’s house was searched by Belgian police over the weekend. The vice-chairman of the parliamentary delegation responsible for the Arabian Peninsula has denied all allegations through his lawyer. Panzeri’s lawyer, in turn, told Le Soir that the facts were “more nuanced” without further explaining. G. was Panzeri’s assistant until 2019 and was responsible for the Maghreb countries, including Morocco. After his departure, he worked for Cozzolino, who in turn heads the Parliament’s delegation to the Maghreb, sits on the Regional Development Committee and the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROIT). The office of this committee was raided and sealed by Belgian police this week.
Kaili herself claims the large amount of cash found in her private apartment belonged neither to her nor to her significant other, but to a third party. “Ms. Kaili asked her partner what the money was,” her lawyer Michailis Dimitrakopoulos told Greek TV channel Skai. He replied that the money belonged to someone else. “Then Ms. Kaili said she didn’t allow money that belonged to someone else to be kept in the shared apartment.” For this reason, Kaili’s father took the bag with money and made his way to a hotel, where the unnamed recipient should have appeared. Investigators arrested the father there, there were 750,000 euros in his suitcase. Another 150,000 euros were found in Kaili’s apartment and 600,000 euros in Panzeri’s.
Meanwhile, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced “far-reaching” anti-corruption reforms. These included a “ban on all unofficial friendship groups, a review of compliance with our code of conduct and a thorough review of our relations with third countries,” Metsola said on Thursday after a discussion with European heads of state and government in Brussels. Consequences from the corruption affair are one of the topics of the summit.