Eva Kaili, a Greek MEP and one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament (EP), has been arrested and charged with crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering in the context of an investigation into alleged Qatari bribes. Persons capable of influencing decision-making in the European Parliament. This information was sent to a Belgian newspaper Trash through legal sources.
The MEP – who saw his powers stripped from office despite not having a vice-presidential post (one of 14 in the chamber) – was one of four indicted on suspicion of “belonging to a criminal organisation”. Money Laundering and Corruption”, said an official statement by the Belgian Attorney General, however, without identifying any names. Two others arrested on Friday have been released.
The prosecution also confirms that the home of a second MEP was raided on Saturday night in connection with this investigation into “third parties holding political and/or strategic positions in the European Parliament who have received large sums of money or paid expensive gifts for influence”. Conclusions of the Eurochamber.”
Kailai has been under investigation since Friday were detained And, at the end of the 48 hours set by Belgian law, the Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for the MEP, his partner, Francesco Giorgi, the EP’s Parliamentary Adviser on Human Rights Affairs, and former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri (who headed the parliamentary subcommittee). Human Rights from 2017 to 2019) and was identified only as “F” to the Brussels mediator, the newspaper reported. the eveningCited by Europa Press.
At the request of a Belgian judge, Panzeri’s wife Maira Colleoni and daughter Silvia Panzeri were also arrested in Italy on Friday on suspicion of knowing about illegal activities. An Italian court upheld the house arrest on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Luca Vicentini, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, was released on parole, while the father of Eva Kylie, who was caught on Saturday with a suitcase full of cash from a hotel in Brussels, was freed.
Kylie, like Pancheri before her, is part of the European Parliament Group of Socialists and Democrats.
Second MEP
The Public Ministry did not name the second MEP who was searched “at around 8 p.m. on Saturday” (9 p.m. in mainland Portugal), but judicial sources said the evening That would be the Belgian socialist Marc Darabella, who has not lost his freedom.
As noted by PÚBLICO Saturday, the offices of the Belgian MEPs Maria Arina e Mark Darabella It was reportedly sealed off by police as part of the investigation. None of the MEPs commented on the situation. However, the Belgian Socialist Party has already summoned Tarabella the eveningAfter an inspection at his house, to clarify the situation.
According to an Italian newspaper Sunday, worked with Francesco Giorgi Maria Arena, a socialist and current chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee (he is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee). However, the MEP’s agenda included no meetings with lobbyists, but meetings with non-governmental organizations concerned with the human rights situation and the Emirate government.
Tarabella, according to you site The official is the deputy head of the EP delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula and also participated in the debate in the chamber on November 21. The human rights situation in the context of the FIFA World Cup in QatarIn which Eva Kylie’s intense security of the UAE government Attracted attention of MEPs.
Tarabella was more restrained in his intervention, but did not fail to praise the EP vice-president’s speech and the “progress of workers’ rights” in Qatar. “Almost nine years ago, we voted on a resolution on the deplorable situation of workers’ rights in Qatar. For nine years, there has been no resolution for the simple reason – and the Commissioner explained this in his well-measured speech – that there has been progress in workers’ rights”, he said.
“The situation in Qatar today is not perfect, far from it”, explained Darabella, “there is still a lot of progress, but it is the country that has committed itself to the path of reforms” and “the structure of the system” the World Cup, in addition to all the events he organized, could be the impetus to accelerate these reforms. .
The MEP’s intervention emphasized that, unlike Kylie, moderate positive speech, “unilaterally negative speech” would “harm the evolution of Qatar’s future rights” and the influence that Qatar’s reforms could have on “all the countries of the Arabian Peninsula”. .
