EU corruption scandal
Black money and dubious organizations: Eva Kaili’s partner makes her first confession
Ex-EU Vice Eva Kaili together with her partner, the Italian Francesco Giorgi
© Eurokinissi / AFP
Eva Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi is a member of an organization that wanted to influence the decisions of the European Parliament in favor of Qatar. But that’s not all: another country is involved in the scandal.
Francesco Giorgi, the partner of deposed Vice President of Parliament Eva Kaili, confessed to the judges in the historic EU corruption scandal. He admitted to investigators that he had accepted black money, several Austrian media report citing the Roman daily newspaper “La Republicca”. In addition, the Italian claims to have been a member of an organization that was supposed to influence European affairs in favor of Qatar and Morocco. Giorgi’s job was to manage cash.
For months, the Belgian judiciary has been investigating suspected corruption, money laundering and foreign influence in the vicinity of the European Parliament. Specifically, the allegations are directed against the Gulf state and World Cup host Qatar. The country is said to have tried to influence decisions of the EU Parliament with gifts of money and goods. Six suspects were arrested on Friday, including Deputy Speaker Eva Kaili. During searches, the Belgian authorities found “sacks full of cash” in Kaili’s apartment in Brussels. In total, the officers were able to secure 1.5 million euros during further searches.
Eva Kaili had already protested her innocence through her lawyer and pointed out that only her partner could “answer the existence of this money”. According to the report by “La Republicca”, Giorgi indicated that he also suspects two other MEPs of having accepted money through former MEP Antonio Panzeri. The two MEPs are Italians Andrea Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella. Both have been members of the European Parliament since 2009.
Morocco is also said to be involved in the scandal
The investigators are also targeting the network of former parliamentarian Antonio Panzeri (read more about this here). After leaving in 2019, he founded the non-governmental organization “Fight Impunity”, which campaigns for human rights and against impunity. The public prosecutor’s office in Brussels is certain that Panzeri was the hub for influencing political decisions in the European Parliament. He is suspected of having distributed the money received from Qatar. As the AFP news agency reports, citing a report by “Spiegel”, two family members are said to have helped Panzeris transport “gifts” that the Moroccan ambassador to an eastern EU country had given them.
According to the documents available to “La Republicca”, Panzeri, Cozolino and Giorgi are said to have been in contact with the external information service Dged and the Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun. Panzeri had official ties to Morocco during his time as an MEP, when he chaired the delegation for relations with North African Maghreb countries.
Sources: “La Republicca“, “The standard“, ORFwith material from DPA and AFP
The EU Parliament is currently bewildered. However, some fear that this could only be the “tip of the iceberg”.