Out of jail but not free. Two of the main suspects in the so-called “Qatargate” corruption investigation, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, were released from prison on Thursday after being placed on electronic bracelets. The deposed Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, the last defendant still detained in this case, will also benefit from placement under electronic surveillance in the very next few days after a decision to this effect by the Belgian justice announced on Wednesday.
Pier Antonio Panzeri was released Thursday morning from Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels. The 67-year-old former socialist elected official, who in 2019 became leader of the NGO Fight Impunity, was arrested in Brussels on December 9, the day of a wave of searches and arrests which revealed the scandal. That day, Belgian investigators got their hands on around 1.5 million euros in cash in bags or suitcases discovered in particular at the Brussels homes of Eva Kaili and Pier Antonio Panzeri.
Recognized facts
Suspected of corruption, Pier Antonio Panzeri agreed to collaborate with Belgian justice and to recognize that he had directed “a criminal organization (…) in connection with Qatar and Morocco”, two countries which would have used his services to defend their interests within the European Parliament. “He is obviously happy to go from prison to his apartment, but he remains detained”, the electronic bracelet being only one modality of preventive detention, explained to AFP his lawyer Laurent Kennes.
The lawyer asked for an arrangement allowing his client to go out “from time to time, if possible every day, to get some fresh air”. “It’s necessary for mental health,” he said, pointing out that Pier Antonio Panzeri was coming out of a “depressive episode”.
Marc Tarabella, a 59-year-old socialist MEP, was also released from prison on Thursday under electronic surveillance. He was imprisoned in the prison of Marche-en-Famenne (south-east of Belgium), after his indictment for corruption on February 11. “I have nothing to reproach myself for and I remain of course at the entire disposal of the investigators if they have any other questions”, declared the Belgian elected official, according to a text sent by one of his collaborators to the European Parliament. . “I am relieved to be able to join my family. This period has been a real test,” he said.