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13/4/2023, 19:26

With Eva Kaili set to leave prison, the European Parliament’s corruption scandal enters a new chapter

By Euronews Brussels bureau
The corruption scandal that has engulfed the European Parliament took a new turn this week after Eva Kaili, the former Vice President of the European Parliament who has become the most recognisable face in the intricate saga, was granted her release from prison.
Kaili will now wear an electronic bracelet, spend her days under house arrest and be available at all times.
The decision means that the five people that have been so far arrested and criminally charged by Belgian authorities are now back home after spending several months behind bars, thrusting the legal case into a new chapter of what we expect to be silence and uncertainty.
Reminder: investigators are looking into a cash-for-favours scheme that involved “large” sums of money and “substantial” gifts allegedly paid by Qatar and Morocco to influence policy-making inside the European Parliament.
Both countries deny any wrongdoing.
Since 9 December, the day the first arrests took place, Eva Kaili has been the leading character in the scandal, with close attention paid to her past speeches, such as the one she delivered in November defending Qatar’s record on labour rights; her domestic life with Francesco Giorgi, another defendant in the case; and her stunning fall from grace, which saw the 44-year-old go from rising star to summarily expelled from the socialist group.
“Cases like Ms Kaili's are considered as a trophy or a symbol and they are shown like the World Cup,” Sven Mary, Kaili’s Belgian lawyer, told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
“Ms Kaili is lifted as a symbol to say: 'Even if you hold high office, you will remain in prison.' And this is made especially to say to the other lawmakers: 'Do not commit corruption because you will go to prison for a long time.'”
During the interview, recorded one day before Kaili obtained her conditional release, Mary insisted his client was innocent and had nothing to do with the bags of cash that police seized from the apartment she shared with Giorgi and that she asked her father to remove.
“Ms Kelly is an intelligent woman. Otherwise, she would have never been elected as European Parliament Vice-President,” Mary said.
The lawyer was particularly critical of Pier Antonio Panzeri, the presumed ringleader of the corruption scheme who in January struck a plea deal with prosecutors in which he admitted his criminal participation in bribery and agreed to share “revealing” details about the cash exchanges.
“I have my big doubts whether Mr Panzeri is really telling the truth. He is telling his own truth. That’s quite a difference,” Mary told us.
Panzeri, who is also out of prison (watch the moment), used to be the boss of Francesco Giorgi during the time the former MEP chaired the parliament’s delegation for relations with Maghreb countries (DMAG), which covers Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia.
According to Kaili’s defence team, the Greek lawmaker is nothing but an unwitting victim of the secret dealings between Panzeri and Giorgi.
But Giorgi “has never accused her of anything, unlike Mr Panzeri,” Mary pointed out.
Asked how Kaili really feels about Giorgi after all the twists and turns in the scandal, the lawyer quoted a Belgian saying: “You never wash your dirty laundry in public.”
Her team later confirmed the two partners would spend house arrest separately.
CATCH UP If you’re still trying to make sense of the ever-evolving, never-boring Qatargate, our team has an updated who-is-who guide of the main characters.

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