It was not a good day for Eva Kaili. Despite a “not guilty” plea, a Belgian coroner ruled this Thursday to keep the former vice-president of the European Parliament in pre-trial detention for at least another month on charges of corruption, money laundering and association with a criminal organization as part of Qatargate’s alleged bribery case by MEPs and other influential figures in Brussels through Qatar and Morocco has shaken the European institutions. A few hours before finding out that she cannot be put on parole, as her defense had demanded, the Greek judiciary also confiscated a piece of land that the former news presenter had bought with her partner, the parliamentary assistant, and also arrested Francesco Giorgi on the Hellenic island of Paros.
After a good part of the day, the Belgian judge decided to reject the request of Kaili’s lawyers and place the still MP in pre-trial detention, along with the other two main suspects, Giorgi and former MP Pier Antonio Panzeri. The Italian politician, founder of the NGO Fight Impunity, which is suspected of being used as a front, is believed to be the leader of a conspiracy that would have accepted large bribes – the police have so far seized €1.5 million – to promote politics and decisions of the European Parliament in favor of Qatar and, according to the investigation, allegedly also of Morocco. Kaili, who has been held in Haren prison in Brussels since her arrest on March 9, has 24 hours to appeal the decision, although it could take up to 15 days before a new hearing is held.
During the closed-door hearing at the Brussels Correctional Court, Kaili’s lawyers had protested the “innocence” of their client, who had also “collaborated” with the judiciary, requesting her release under electronic surveillance using a bracelet.
“Eva Kaili is innocent, she has never been corrupted, never,” her Greek lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told the fifty journalists waiting in the old Palace of Justice in Brussels, although at no time was the detainee seen entering or exiting the courtroom. Another of Kaili’s lawyers, Belgian André Risopoulos, said his client was “actively involved in the investigation” and also “rejects any act of corruption.”
On the same day, the Greek Anti-Money Laundering Authority confiscated a 7,000 square meter piece of land that Kaili and Giorgi had bought on the Greek island of Paros, according to Efe, which was also reported in local media. The embargo was decided as part of the criminal investigation launched by the Greek Economic Crime Prosecutor’s Office against the former Vice-President of the European Parliament for allegedly committing the crimes of money laundering and passive bribery. According to the local press, this blockade of the land in Paros opens the door to criminal proceedings against Kaili in Greece if it is proven that the couple bought the land with money from illegal activities.
A total of six people were arrested on the dizzying day Kaili was arrested: alongside then-Vice-President of the European Parliament Giorgi and Panzeri, police arrested Kaili’s father as he tried to flee with a suitcase full of money.
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Also killed in this raid were an Italian lobbyist and director of an NGO linked to Panzeri, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, and union leader Luca Visentini. Both Kaili’s father and Visentini were released two days later. The unionist, who admitted receiving €50,000 from Fight Impunity but without compensation, is free, albeit on conditions, according to Belgian prosecutors. Of the other three men, who, like Eva Kaili, are accused of corruption, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization, Giorgi and Panzeri remain in preventive detention, a further hearing in Brussels confirmed on Wednesday last week. Meanwhile, Figa-Talamanca has already regained his freedom, although he must wear an electronic bracelet. Kaili did not attend this hearing and therefore the hearing took place a week later. Police seized €150,000 in cash from the house shared with Kaili by the parliamentary assistant and also a member of the NGO Fight Impunity. The suitcase intercepted from the father of the MEP contained a further “hundreds of thousands of euros”, and 600,000 euros had been confiscated from Panzeri’s house.
Kaili’s defense deplored the repeated disclosure of interrogations of the detainees to the Belgian press, some of which, like Giorgi, have already admitted their involvement in the conspiracy.
“I’ve never seen a degree like this” [de filtraciones], Risopoulos, in relation to the advances he has published, has particularly denounced Le Soir newspaper, which was the first to promote the Qatargate scandal. For Risopoulos, these leaks of information, in summary secrecy, constitute a “frontal breach of the order”. The lawyer has confirmed that the Belgian public prosecutor’s office has already opened an investigation to find the origin of the leaks, which according to the defense of the detainees, the trial could harm.
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