Ex-MEP in EU corruption scandal admits ties to Qatar, Morocco – lawyer

The lawyer of former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri confirmed on Wednesday the involvement of Qatar and Morocco within the corruption scandal rocking the European Parliament however rejected claims his shopper was the mind of the operation.

“Mr Panzeri confesses immediately to having actively participated in acts of corruption in reference to Qatar and in reference to Morocco and subsequently to having been corrupted and to having corrupted others,” his lawyer, Laurent Kennes, advised Euronews. 

He nevertheless refused to substantiate whether or not extra overseas international locations are implicated, arguing that the secrecy is to “allow the investigation to maneuver ahead.”

“Everybody is aware of that we’re speaking a couple of case that considerations Qatar and Morocco. If there are different international locations, the investigation should have the ability to proceed with out all the pieces being disclosed to the press. And that’s known as the secrecy of the investigation,” he mentioned.

The Belgian Federal Prosector’s Workplace introduced on Tuesday that Panzeri, an Italian socialist who served three phrases within the parliament, had signed a so-called “repentance settlement” and pledged to share “substantial, revealing” details about the cash-for-favour scheme in alternate for a decrease sentence.

4 folks, together with Panzeri, have up to now been arrested and charged in relation to the investigation probing “massive sums of cash” paid by a rustic up to now solely formally recognized as a Persian Gulf state, however extensively believed to be Qatar, with the intention to affect the European union’s policy-making. 

Doha and Morocco, which has in current weeks emerged as one other potential participant, each vehemently deny the allegations.

No new names but

As a part of the deal struck with the Belgian authorities, Panzeri additionally recognised being a “chief of the legal organisation,” Kennes mentioned, including nevertheless that “it doesn’t suggest that he’s the one chief.”

“It means that he’s not less than one of many leaders of an organisation that had as one in every of its goals to deprave folks,” the lawyer mentioned.

Underneath the deal, Panzeri dedicated to informing Belgian authorities of the involvement of different folks, together with the id of the individual he admits to having bribed. However Kennes declined to provide names or say whether or not sitting MEPs or officers working in different EU establishments are concerned, as soon as extra citing the secretive nature of the investigation.

Making such names public “could be asserting prematurely what he’ll say in a secret setting” and “could be a violation of the settlement we’ve got with Federal Prosecutor’s Workplace,” Kennes mentioned. 

“It is not in my shopper’s curiosity to speak his info, which we talk in his curiosity and in relation to the voice he desires to hold immediately. However we’re not speaking on parts that he’ll talk to the courts, for the sake of justice,” he added.

The opposite three people at the moment detained are Greek MEP Eva Kaili, her associate Francesco Giorgi and NGO director Niccolò Figà-Talamanca. Belgian authorities have additionally requested the lifting of immunity of two further socialist MEPs: Marc Tarabella (Belgium) and Andrea Cozzolino (Italy).

‘Benevolence’ for Panzeri’s spouse and daughter

In alternate for his cooperation, Panzeri is to be slapped with a five-year suspended jail sentence, with not more than a 12 months spent in detention in jail or beneath digital surveillance. He can even obtain a suspended high quality of €80,000, with an extra €1 million to be confiscated. 

Kennes defended the deal to Euronews, saying that “the curiosity for justice is to have somebody who now not has an curiosity in defending himself or herself and who has no curiosity both in falsely accusing somebody or in saying that somebody has completely nothing to do with it, besides maybe these near him.”

Panzeri in the meantime, already is aware of his sentence whereas “it was fairly attainable that he could be sentenced in 5, six or three years’ time” and acquired the same sentence then.

However he additionally hopes that there shall be “a sure benevolence on the a part of the general public prosecutor” with regards to his spouse, Maria Dolores Colleoni, and daughter, Silvia Panzeri, that are suspected of getting been conscious of the illicit actions.

Belgian authorities have requested their extradition from Italy which the 2 girls have appealed. 

“Each have attorneys in Italy they usually hope that they won’t be handed over to the Belgian authorities however they’ll likely be interrogated in Belgium, which is sort of regular.

“They’ve already given their approval, that I do know, to be questioned within the hope that they won’t be questioned in a detained setting,” Kennes mentioned.