World

Exclusive: Former MEP Kaili doubles down on ‘Belgiangate’

Published

2 days ago

December 22, 2025

Exclusive: Former MEP Kaili doubles down on ‘Belgiangate’

It was billed as the scandal that threatened to shake the core of European democracy.

Explosive allegations, a spectacular police operation and allegations of big money used by three non-EU countries to influence the European Parliament’s decisions.

At the centre of the storm was then-MEP and Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, young, glamorous, and well-connected.

Three years later, the European Parliament corruption scandal remains unresolved, the trial date has not been set, and the methods used by Belgian authorities have come under scrutiny.

Kaili, who was relieved of her duties as an EU lawmaker and declared persona non grata, says she was set up and is demanding justice.

“Justice is based on evidence and facts,” Kaili said in an exclusive interview for Euronews. “Three years ago, optics were presented as justice, but now we have the clarity to see what actually happened.”

Her case has returned to the media spotlight after former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, top European civil servant Stefano Sannino, and a staff member connected to the College of Europe were detained and named as suspects in a separate alleged corruption case earlier this month, investigated by the European Public Prosecutors’ Office (EPPO) and led by the Belgian police.

Kaili is defending her innocence and accusing Belgian authorities of botched methods, political framing, collusion with the media and the staging of evidence.

Kaili also said she was not surprised by the arrest of three Italian nationals in connection with the Mogherini case, as there is an effort to portray southern European countries as corrupt in public opinion, according to her.

Kaili told Euronews her professional career and personal life have been upended since the scandal broke in 2022. She also says her case is a warning to other politicians.

“When they destroy the principle of presumption of innocence, when they chose a target, stage photos and write the script before the case opens, that means being a politician in Belgium, in the European Union, is not safe,” she told Euronews.

“Politicians should not be afraid to work at European institutions. They should not be afraid to become a target. I hoped that my case would serve as a lesson. But what happened to Mogherini, it’s another case of selective political prosecution.”

Anatomy of a very public scandal

In December 2022, Belgian authorities conducted a series of spectacular raids across several locations, including Kaili’s Brussels home, as part of an investigation led by magistrate Michel Claise.

A photograph of a suitcase, replete with €500 banknotes, was released by the Belgian federal police as what they called evidence of alleged corruption, with Kaili at the centre of it.

The picture went global, and she became the face of the scandal.

She was arrested and her parliamentary immunity waived. Her partner, Francesco Giorgi, and her father, who was found with a suitcase containing cash in a hotel, were also apprehended and accused of being complicit in the alleged corruption scheme, which added up to more than €1.5 million seized in total.

Throughout the investigation, Kaili said she had no personal connection to the money found at her home address, pointing instead to another former MEP, Pier Antonio Panzeri.

Belgian authorities suggested that Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania could have paid Kaili and others large sums to lobby on their behalf. Qatar and Morocco have repeatedly denied the allegations of cash for influence.

The spectacular operation, with no precedent in European history since the EU common institutions were established, put Belgium, its police, secret service and investigative authorities at the centre of an international story, without fear or favour for politicians or foreign governments.

That was in sharp contrast with the picture that emerged after the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, in which Belgian authorities came out tainted by operational failures.

At the time, Kaili was a well-known figure in the Brussels bubble, often attending high-profile events and meetings. She has maintained her innocence throughout and refused a plea deal.

Now she is demanding justice for herself.

Troubled and difficult investigation

Since the European Parliament corruption scandal first broke, the investigation has suffered several setbacks, including the resignations of key figures in the case.

Its lead investigative judge, Claise, who first headed the case, resigned in 2023 over concerns of conflict of interest. However, he denied that it played any role in the investigation.

The Belgian federal prosecutor in charge of the case at the time, Raphael Malagnini, also resigned in 2023 to take a different job.

The methods employed by the investigating authorities, which also included the Belgian secret service, have also come into question.

Kaili spent four months in preventive detention before she was released under electronic bracelet monitoring. Her lawyers said at the time that the treatment she received while in prison amounted to torture.

Questions around the way Kaili’s immunity as an elected member of the European Parliament was lifted, which her lawyers argue was done illegally, the nature and timing of sensitive leaks published in the press and counter-probes have impacted the case, which is still not set for trial.

While information “leaking” to the media during an active probe is not rare and reflects the investigative nature of journalism, the details, timing and access to documents deemed highly sensitive went beyond just leaks, according to Kaili.

She told Euronews that Belgian authorities worked closely with a group of journalists to “write and present a script” in which she would be found guilty before she could defend herself.

“We have messages between the prosecutor, the police and journalists preparing articles before the investigation even started, deciding how they would title it and trying to twist everything to fit a headline,” she said. “These are not leaks, this is pre-orchestration.”

At the time, the Greek centre-left politician was portrayed as an ambitious woman seeking to climb the social ladder, enjoying the perks of an expensive lifestyle beyond her duties as a politician.

“I was actually very hard working,” she pointed out.

Kaili insists that she had a mandate from the European Parliament to establish relations with the Gulf countries, citing internal emails.

Asked by Euronews what the motivation could ultimately be if her allegations — which would point to serious negligence — are proven correct before the law, she replied: “That’s a very good question, but it would require a trial.”

Belgian fixation with southern Europe?

The former MEP told Euronews she decided to speak up now because of what she calls a worrying pattern related to southern European nationals working for EU institutions.

Earlier this month, one of Italy’s top diplomats, Mogherini, stepped down from her role as rector of the College of Europe, an influential educational institution close to the EU, over public allegations of graft, again implicating a high-level official from the south of the continent.

Lawyers representing Mogherini said she was ready and willing to collaborate in the investigation, which remains ongoing.

“I think it’s easy to attack the southern European countries and create a narrative and an assumption. But the assumption of the opposite of facts and it destroys lives,” she said.

“And the reason why I’m speaking out, even though it has caused to much trouble to my family, and even to my case, is because this should not happen to anyone,” Kaili concluded.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by Euronews.

Watch the entire interview in the player above.

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World

Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman, seen as likely next PM set to return from exile ahead of polls

Published

4 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman, seen as likely next PM set to return from exile ahead of polls

DHAKA, Dec 24 (Reuters) – The Bangladesh Nationalist Party aims to gather five million supporters to welcome its leader Tarique Rahman home from nearly 17 years in exile on Thursday, a show of strength as he emerges as a leading contender for prime minister in February elections.

Rahman, 60, is the son of ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and acting chairman of the party that is widely expected to come out on top in the parliamentary vote set for February 12.

His return from London comes as his BNP is on the ascendant following the ouster of its arch foe, long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a student-led uprising last year. Apart from brief transition administrations, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have alternated in power since 1991.

A December survey by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute suggests the BNP is on course to win the largest number of parliamentary seats, with the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party also in the race. Hasina’s Awami League party, which has been barred from the election, has threatened unrest that some fear could jeopardize the vote.

Rahman’s decision to return is driven by both political developments and personal circumstances. His mother has been seriously ill for months, prompting what party insiders describe as an urgent trip home.

‘DEFINING POLITICAL MOMENT’, BNP SAYS

BNP leaders said they are preparing for what they call an “unprecedented” gathering in the capital, aiming to draw more than five million supporters along the route from the airport to the reception venue.

“This will be a defining political moment,” senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, adding that security arrangements are being closely coordinated with authorities to ensure order.

Rahman has lived in London since 2008 as he faced multiple criminal convictions at home including for money laundering and in a case related to a plot to assassinate Hasina. He was, however, acquitted of all charges after Hasina’s removal, clearing the legal barriers that had delayed his return.

BNP officials said he will travel directly from the airport to the reception venue before visiting his mother.

YOUTH PARTY WELCOMES HIS RETURN

Rahman’s return comes as the Muslim-majority South Asian nation of nearly 175 million people enters a sensitive election period under an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The vote is widely viewed as crucial to restoring political stability after nearly two years of turmoil.

Bangladesh is at a crossroads, with Rahman’s return testing the BNP’s ability to mobilise peacefully and the interim administration’s promise to deliver a credible transfer of power. While the government has pledged a free and peaceful election, recent attacks on media outlets and sporadic violence have raised concerns about law enforcement.

The National Citizen Party (NCP), which emerged from the youth protest movement that toppled Hasina, said it views Rahman’s return positively.

“Tarique Rahman was forced into exile under severe pressure and threats, so his homecoming carries symbolic weight,” said Khan Muhammad Mursalin, an NCP spokesperson. “His arrival will undoubtedly energize party leaders and supporters … On the path to democracy, we will stand with him.”

Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by YP Rajesh and Peter Graff

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World

Trump-backed candidate Asfura wins Honduras presidential election

Published

5 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Trump-backed candidate Asfura wins Honduras presidential election

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Nasry Asfura has won the 2025 Honduras presidential election, delivering victory for the right-of-center National Party of Honduras (PNH) and shifting the political landscape of Central America.

The 40.3% to 39.5% result in favor of Asfura over Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla arrived after the vote-counting process had been delayed for days by technical glitches and claims by other candidates of vote-rigging. Rixi Moncada, the candidate of the ruling LIBRE party, came in a distant third.

The results of the race were so tight and the ballot processing system was so chaotic, that about 15% of the tally sheets, which accounted for hundreds of thousands of ballots, had to be counted by hand to determine the winner.

Two electoral council members and one deputy approved the results despite disputes over the razor-thin difference in the vote. A third council member, Marlon Ocha, was not in a video declaring the winner.

TRUMP PLANS ‘FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON’ FOR FORMER HONDURAN PRESIDENT CONVICTED OF DRUG TRAFFICKING

Tito Asfura defeats Salvador Nasralla and Rixi Moncada after President Trump’s repeated endorsements (AP)

“Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down,” Asfura said on X after the results were confirmed.

The head of the Honduran Congress, though, rejected the results and described them as an “electoral coup.”

“This is completely outside the law,” Congress President Luis Redondo of the LIBRE party said on X. “It has no value.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura on X, saying the U.S. “looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”

Initially, preliminary results on Monday showed Asfura, 67, had won 41% of the ballot, inching him ahead of Nasralla, 72, who had around 39%.

THE RESULTS ARE IN: 2025’S BIGGEST WINNER AND LOSERS FROM THE OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS

President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds Feb. 24, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the website set up to share vote tallies with the public experienced technical problems and crashed, according to The Associated Press.

With the candidates only having 515 votes between them, a virtual tie and site crash saw President Trump share a post on Truth Social.

“Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election,” he wrote. “If they do, there will be hell to pay!”

By Thursday, Asfura had 40.05%, about 8,000 votes ahead of Nasralla, who had 39.75%, according to Reuters, with the latter then calling for an investigation.

“I publicly denounce that today, at 3:24 a.m., the screen went dark and an algorithm, similar to the one used in 2013, changed the data,” Nasralla wrote on social media, adding 1,081,000 votes for his party were transferred to Asfura, while 1,073,000 votes for Asfura’s National Party were attributed to him.

FORMER MISS VENEZUELA BLAMES ‘SOCIALISM AND OPEN BORDERS’ FOR HER COUNTRY’S DEVASTATING COLLAPSE

Rixi Moncada, LIBRE’s candidate, is a prominent lawyer, financier and former minister of national defense. (Associated Press )

Asfura, nicknamed “Tito,” is a former mayor of Tegucigalpa and had entered the race with a reputation for leadership and focus on infrastructure, public order and efficiency.

His win ended a polarized campaign season, with one of the defining moments of the contest being Asfura’s endorsement by Trump.

“If he [Asfura] doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Nov. 28.

Before the start of voting Nov. 29, Trump also said he would pardon former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who once led the same party as Asfura. Hernandez is serving a 45-year sentence for helping drug traffickers.

VENEZUELAN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER MARÍA CORINA MACHADO DEDICATES AWARD TO TRUMP FOR ‘DECISIVE SUPPORT’

Nasralla is a high-profile television personality turned politician. (Associated Press )

In the end, the election saw the defeat of centrist former vice president of Honduras, Nasralla and left-wing Moncada, 60, who served under President Xiomara Castro.

Moncada, a prominent lawyer, financier and former minister of national defense, focused on institutional reform and social equity.

Nasralla, a high-profile television personality turned politician, mobilized a base but fell short of converting his popularity into a winning coalition.

He was focusing on cleaning up Honduran corruption. The Honduran presidential race was also impacted by accusations of fraud.

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In addition to electing a new president, Hondurans voted for a new Congress and hundreds of local positions.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Europe defends its digital rules after US targets Breton with visa ban

Published

7 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Europe defends its digital rules after US targets Breton with visa ban

European Union officials have defended landmark digital rules on Wednesday, after the Trump administration went after what it described as a machine created to fuel censorship and imposed sanctions — including a visa ban — on a former EU Commissioner.

The European Commission said in a statement it “strongly condemns” the US decision, stressing that freedom of expression is “a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world”.

Brussels insisted that the EU has a sovereign right to regulate its digital market in line with its values, adding that its rules are applied “fairly and without discrimination”.

The Commission said, if needed, it would “respond swiftly and decisively our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures” from the US side.

Digital rules have become a point of tension between Washington and Brussels, both accusing each other of politicising what should be standard market rules for companies operating in the EU.

That friction was exacerbated after the US published a controversial national security strategy earlier this month, arguing that Europe faces the demise of civilisation unless it radically changes course.

In the document, the Trump administration said that Europe was drowning under illegal and excessive regulation and censorship.

The document was built on a premise laid out by US Vice President JD Vance at the start of the year, during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he argued that internal rules posed the most significant risk to the EU.

He referred to EU Commissioners as “commissars” and argued that foreign interference is often used to censor content.

The EU denies that and insists that rules are applied fairly.

France pushes back against US over ‘coercion’

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Washington of intimidation after the visa ban on Breton, the former European Commissioner appointed by Macron himself, saying it amounts to “coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty”.

The French president, who has long campaigned for strategic autonomy, said that digital rules governing the EU market are decided by Europeans and Europeans alone.

Macron said he had spoken with Breton over the phone after his ban was announced and “thanked him for his significant contribution in the service of Europe.”

“We will stand firm against pressure and will protect Europeans,” the French president wrote in a post on X.

Breton, who served as European Commissioner for the Internal Market under Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, played a key role in drafting the Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to hold social media and large online platforms accountable for the content they publish.

Under the DSA, digital companies can be fined up to 6% of their annual worldwide turnover for non-compliance, with specific penalties for various violations.

Fines and tariffs as leverage for both sides

Earlier this month, the European Commission slapped a €120 million fine on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, invoking the DSA for the first time.

The fine triggered a furious response from the tech billionaire, who called for the abolition of the EU.

While fines are not uncommon and multiple US governments have called out what they believe is a targeted effort to penalise innovation made in America, the Trump administration has been more aggressive in its tone and countermeasures.

Washington has indicated it would provide tariff relief only for key European sectors, such as steel and aluminium, if the EU agreed to ease the implementation of digital rules.

For the EU, the idea is a red line, as it would undermine its right to set policy independently of the US government.

After being hit by a wave of tariffs amounting to 15% on most European products over the summer, Brussels insisted the deal was the best of all options on the table as it would provide certainty for business with a single duty rate and reiterated policy independence was assured as digital rules had been left out of the negotiation.

With its latest actions, the Trump administration has suggested it may not be enough.