Corruption affair in the EU Parliament: Arrest warrant against MP Tarabella

The corruption scandal in the EU Parliament is spreading further: the Social Democrats Cozzolina and Tarabella were arrested on Friday. An arrest warrant has now been issued for Tarabella. He is accused of money laundering, among other things.

In the course of the investigation into the corruption scandal in the European Parliament, the judiciary issued an arrest warrant against another MP. The Belgian social democrat Marc Tarabella is affected, as a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Brussels announced. He is accused of corruption, money laundering and involvement in a criminal organization.

Tarabella has been under investigation for a long time. The 59-year-old is suspected of having received benefits from the Gulf state of Qatar. He was arrested on Friday and is now in custody.

According to the judiciary, several offices in the town hall of the Belgian municipality of Anthisnes were searched parallel to the arrest. Tarabella is mayor there. Another search had therefore affected a bank vault in Liège, which is said to belong to the MP.

Allegations also against Cozzolino

In addition to Tarabella, Italian MP Andrea Cozzolino was also arrested on Friday in connection with the investigation.

The two MEPs were recently expelled from the Social Democrats group. At the beginning of February, they were also stripped of their parliamentary immunity. They are accused of accepting bribes from third countries. Both protested their innocence.

According to a parliamentary report, Cozzolino “is suspected of having participated in an agreement with other individuals to work together to protect the interests of foreign states in the European Parliament.” This should be done “in particular by preventing the adoption of parliamentary resolutions” that “could harm the interests of these States, in exchange for sums of money”.

At Tarabella, the report said, statements against him indicated that such payments had been made to him on a number of occasions. The total sum amounts to 120,000 to 140,000 euros.

Several suspects in custody

The scandal came to light in early December after a series of raids in Brussels and Italy. The investigators confiscated several hundred thousand euros. Four suspects are already accused of corruption, money laundering and membership of a criminal organization.

They are Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who was the vice-president of the EU Parliament before the allegations became known, her partner and parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and the head of a charity, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca.

Panzeri has now reached an agreement with the public prosecutor’s office and wants to unpack as an informant. He is currently in custody, as are Giorgi and his partner and Kaili.