The Belgian judiciary has ruled on the house arrest of Eva Kaili, who is implicated in a Qatari corruption scandal in the European Parliament.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 4/12/2023 at 4:10 PM, updated 4/12/2023 at 4:48 PM
The Belgian judiciary ruled on Wednesday 12 April the release from custody and house arrest with an electronic bracelet of the ousted Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, a key figure in the so-called “Qatargate” corruption investigation.
“Eva Kaili is released from prison, under house arrest in Belgium and under electronic surveillance. The investigating judge has just made the decision,” Antoon Schotsaert, a judge at the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s Office, told AFP.
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cash payments
The elected Greek Socialist was the last defendant still in prison in this case. She is suspected of having campaigned against payments of money to foreign powers in decisions of the European Parliament for several years. Eva Kaili, 44, mother of a two-year-old daughter, was relieved of her post as Vice-President of the European Parliament in mid-December.
The Belgian judiciary already handed down identical decisions in favor of Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella on Tuesday and last week in favor of former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri, two other prime suspects in “Qatargate,” a corruption scandal that rocked the European Parliament. Like Marc Tarabella, Eva Kaili has always maintained her innocence. Antonio Panzeri has agreed to cooperate with the judiciary. This “penitent” negotiated a limited prison sentence in exchange for agreeing to provide investigators with everything he knows about the corruption system linked to Qatar and Morocco, which he admitted to orchestrating. He particularly involved Marc Tarabella.
Manifest Offense
A fourth suspect, Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, was arrested and placed under house arrest in Italy on February 11. He challenged his surrender to Belgium in the Italian courts on the basis of a European arrest warrant. A hearing at the Naples Court of Appeal on his extradition to Belgium has been adjourned until May 2. Finally, the parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, a close friend of Antonio Panzeri and companion of Eva Kaili, was placed under an electronic bracelet at the end of February after more than two months in prison in Belgium.
Like his partner and Antonio Panzeri, he was part of the first wave of arrests in Brussels on December 9, when investigators got their hands on 1.5 million euros in cash distributed in bags or suitcases. Eva Kaili did not enjoy her parliamentary immunity because the crime was uncovered in flagrante delicto and “sacks of tickets” were discovered in her apartment. Qatar and Morocco have firmly denied being the source of any corruption.