At least 1.5 million euros in cash is part of the assets seized by the Belgian police during searches of the homes of a vice president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, dismissed by the institution on Tuesday, and the Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, in the macro operation for a plot of alleged bribes from Qatar to gain political and economic weight in Brussels.
Along with Panzeri and Kaili, both from the European Social Democrat family, Francesco Giorgi — Kaili’s partner and parliamentary assistant — and a fourth person remain detained in the framework of the investigation. All of them will appear on Wednesday before the Court of First Instance in Brussels.
According to local press reports, it was the arrest of Eva Kaili’s father last Friday in a Brussels hotel with a suitcase full of «several hundred thousand euros» in cash that served to demonstrate the «flagrant crime» that allowed the authorities to arrest the then EP vice-president and search her apartment despite her parliamentary immunity.
In statements to the Greek channel Open TV, a lawyer for Kaili has defended that her client has «nothing to do» with the alleged collection of bribes from Qatar and that she is «innocent», although she has not clarified the origin of the money found in her home.
Since last Friday, the police have carried out a score of searches in offices in the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels of several MEPs and parliamentary assistants, and it has transpired that one of those questioned has been the Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella.
In statements to the media from Strasbourg (France), the leader of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, Iratxe Garcia, has reported the suspension of this MEP until the investigation clarifies the facts.
Although Kaili has been expelled from her party (PASOK) and dismissed as MEP vice-president or Tarabella suspended from his parliamentary group, neither of them loses his parliamentary seat.
