More Questions Than Answers as EU Corruption Scandal Unfolds

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nobody answers the door or the phone on the offices of the 2 campaign groups linked to a cash-for-favors corruption scandal on the European Union’s parliament, allegedly involving Qatar. No light is visible inside.

No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), a pro-human rights and democracy organization, and Fight Impunity, which seeks to bring rights abusers to book, share the identical address, on prime real estate within the governmental quarter of the Belgian capital.

The heads of the 2 organizations are amongst 4 people charged since Dec. 9 with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. Prosecutors said in a press release that they believe certain European lawmakers and aides “were paid large sums of cash or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament’s decisions.”

Qatar rejects allegations that it’s involved. The Gulf country that’s hosting the soccer World Cup has gone to considerable trouble to spice up its public image and defend itself against extensive criticism within the West over its human rights record. It has also lobbied the EU recently on visa and air transport issues.

The lawyer for Fight Impunity President Pier Antonio Panzeri shouldn’t be talking. He declined to comment about his client’s role in an affair that has shaken the European Parliament and halted the assembly’s work on Qatar-related files.

The secretary-general of NPWJ, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, has left jail but must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. On its Italian website, after he stepped down, the group praised his work, saying it hopes “the continued investigation will display the correctness of his actions.”

Charged together with them are Eva Kaili, who was removed as an EU parliament vp after the costs were laid, and her partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant. Pictures they’ve posted on social media project the image of a beautiful and impressive Mediterranean jet-set couple.

Following months of investigations, police have thus far launched greater than 20 raids, mostly in Belgium but additionally in Italy. A whole lot of hundreds of euros have been present in Brussels: at an apartment and in a suitcase at a hotel not removed from the parliament.

Mobile telephones, computer equipment and the info of 10 parliamentary assistants were seized.

Taking to Twitter, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne described what he calls the “Qatargate” investigation as a “game changer.” It was achieved, he said, “partly due to years of labor by State Security,” the country’s intelligence agency.

In keeping with what Italian newspaper La Repubblica and Belgian day by day Le Soir said were transcripts they’d obtained of his Dec. 10 statements to prosecutors, Giorgi allegedly confessed to managing money on behalf of an “organization” led by Panzeri that handled Qatari and Moroccan representatives.

“I did all of it for money, which I needed,’’ Giorgi told prosecutors, in response to La Repubblica. He tried to guard his partner Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek former TV presenter with whom he has an infant daughter, asking that she be released from jail. Kaili’s lawyer has said she knew nothing in regards to the money.

Giorgi arrived in Belgium in 2009. He made a profession on the parliament with the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group. He met Panzeri, on the time an EU lawmaker, at a conference. “I asked him to present me an internship, and he did,’’ Giorgi said in his statement.

Panzeri became his mentor, made him an assistant and introduced him around, the Italian newspaper said. Giorgi expressed relief that the scheme had been uncovered. He described himself as an easy one who got in over his head on account of an ethical obligation he felt toward Panzeri.

Up until his arrest, Giorgi worked as an assistant for one more S&D lawmaker, Andrea Cozzolino. Italy’s center-left Democratic Party suspended Cozzolino on Friday while the probe goes on. He temporarily withdrew from the S&D.

In Italy last weekend, Panzeri’s wife, Maria Dolores Colleoni, and daughter, Silvia Panzeri, were taken into custody on a European arrest warrant. A court in Brescia ordered them to be placed under house arrest, certainly one of their lawyers told AP.

On Friday, a Milan judicial source confirmed to AP that 17,000 euros ($18,075) were seized during a search of Panzeri’s house, where his wife is staying, in Calusco d’Adda within the Bergamo province northeast of Milan. Police also seized computers, cell phones, watches and documents.

Police individually found a key to a secure deposit box in the home of Giorgi’s parents within the Milan suburb of Abbiategrasso, leading investigators to find 20,000 euros ($21,260) in money.

Panzeri’s wife is predicted to look in court again on Monday, when a panel of judges will resolve whether to extradite her to Belgium. An identical hearing will likely be held Tuesday for his or her daughter. Kaili is on account of face court in Brussels on Thursday.

The source in Milan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly, said Italian investigators were other people but declined to discover them. The source said they weren’t EU lawmakers or people related to the campaign groups.

Many questions remain unanswered in regards to the scandal. What Qatari officials, if any, were involved? Why goal the EU’s parliament? How wide is the investigators’ net? What was the role of Panzeri, the previous lawmaker and president of Fight Impunity?

No light shines in his office, but Panzeri’s own words on his group’s website could point the best way: “Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘allow us to realize the arc of the moral universe is long, however it bends toward justice.’ If we’re to proceed to maneuver towards justice, accountability should be our guiding light.”

Barry reported from Milan. Samuel Petrequin in Brussels and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material is probably not published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.