Who is who in the European Parliament corruption scandal?

The corruption scandal engulfing the European Parliament widens and thickens by the day.

Bombshell media experiences, closed-door hearings, leaked confessions and defiant statements from legal legal professionals are including new twists and turns to the more and more convoluted story.

On the very centre of the scandal lies a cash-for-favours scheme involving, in accordance with the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Workplace, “massive sums of cash” and “substantial presents” paid by a rustic within the Persian Gulf, extensively recognized as Qatar, with the purpose to affect the European Union’s policy-making.

Morocco has in latest weeks emerged as an alleged participant within the graft operation. Each Qatar and Morocco vigorously deny the allegations.

Up to now, 4 people have been arrested and charged with “participation in a legal organisation, cash laundering and corruption,” the prosecutor has mentioned. The 4 stay in jail.

In the meantime, as much as €1.5 million in money have been seized by the Belgian police throughout dozens of house and workplace searches, along with the requisitioning of parliamentary computer systems to forestall the erasure of key knowledge.

If you’re attempting to make sense of this dizzying labyrinth, Euronews gives you a helpful who-is-who information of the principle characters concerned within the corruption scandal, dubbed Qatargate.

Eva Kaili

Eva Kaili is the title on everybody’s lips in Brussels.

The Greek MEP was thought-about, till her arrest on 9 December, a rising star among the many ranks of the socialist group (S&D). Often known as media-friendly and approachable, Kaili was first elected to the European Parliament in 2014, working with the centre-left PASOK celebration, and was re-elected in 2019. 

In January 2022, the 44-year-old was named one of many parliament’s 14 vice presidents, a end result of her legislative work in digital matters akin to synthetic intelligence, cybersecurity and blockchain.

Since her stunning detainment, Kaili has been expelled from PASOK, suspended from the S&D group and eliminated as vice-president.

Technically talking, she is now a non-attached MEP, with a post-tax wage of €7,146 monthly. It is unclear if she stays entitled to the extra €4,778 month-to-month allowance.

Though Kaili was largely targeted on the EU’s digital agenda, in early November she travelled to Qatar and held one-on-one conferences with the nation’s prime leaders, together with the prime minister.

Weeks later, she delivered a speech earlier than the plenary defending Qatar’s labour rights within the context of the controversial FIFA World Cup. In early December, she voted in favour of visa liberation for Qatari residents.

As much as €150,000 in money are suspected of getting been present in her Brussels house, which she shared together with her life accomplice, Francesco Giorgi, and their 22-month-old daughter.

Kaili’s lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, has emphatically defended her shopper’s innocence, arguing she referred to as the Belgian police as quickly as she heard of Giorgi’s arrest by Belgian newspapers – though Giorgi was not recognized by title within the preliminary media experiences.

“She was unaware that there was one thing unlawful in her home, in any other case she wouldn’t have referred to as the police,” Dimitrakopoulos informed Euronews. “Nevertheless it wasn’t attainable as a result of the police didn’t communicate English after which all of the developments occurred.”

Francesco Giorgi

Francesco Giorgi is Eva Kaili’s home accomplice and one of many suspected key gamers within the scandal.

Based on his LinkedIn profile, Giorgi holds a level in political science from the College of Milan and has been working as an accredited parliamentary assistant since 2009.

Giorgi started his profession within the hemicycle as an assistant to Pier Antonio Panzeri, a socialist MEP from Italy, and moved in 2019 to the workplace of Andrea Cozzolino, one other Italian socialist. Throughout his time in Brussels, the 35-year-old grew to become romantically concerned with Eva Kaili, then a member of the S&D group.

Beneath the management of each Panzeri and Cozzolino, Giorgi labored within the parliament’s delegation for relations with Maghreb international locations, referred to as DMAG, which covers Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia.

Since his arrest in December, Giorgi is believed to have adopted a collaborative perspective with the Belgian authorities, sharing revealing particulars on how the behind-the-scenes graft developed.

Based on paperwork obtained by Le Soir and La Repubblica, Francesco Giorgi has confessed to being a part of an “organisation” utilized by Qatar and Morocco to affect European policy-making. The Italian assistant has tried to exonerate Kaili by accusing his former boss, Andrea Cozzolino, and Marc Tarabella of accepting money by Panzeri’s administration. 

However Kaili’s lawyer says the Greek MEP feels “betrayed” by Giorgi as a result of his supposed participation within the legal scheme turned her, by extension, into an confederate.

Pier Antonio Panzeri

A 3-term socialist MEP, Pier Antonio Panzeri is suspected of being the prime middleman between the European Parliament and the money allegedly provided by Qatar and Morocco.

First elected in 2004, Panzeri targeted his time as a European legislator on employment, social rights, overseas affairs, international safety and growth assist.

He chaired the delegation for relations with the Maghreb international locations from 2009 to 2017. He then grew to become chair of the subcommittee on human rights, a place he held till he left the parliament in 2019.

As a former MEP, Panzeri had the correct to a everlasting entry badge to the parliament’s premises.

In September 2019, mere months after the European elections, Panzeri based a non-profit organisation in Brussels referred to as Combat Impunity, whose said function is to “promote the battle in opposition to impunity for severe violations of human rights and crimes in opposition to humanity.”

Combat Impunity, which doesn’t seem on the EU’s Transparency Register — a database on which people and organisations that attempt to affect the EU’s law-making and coverage implementation course of are purported to be listed on — shares the identical tackle as one other NGO, No Peace With out Justice.

Each Kaili and Giorgi have pointed the finger at Panzeri because the supervisor behind the cash exchanges. Over €600,000 in money was reportedly discovered at his house.

Belgian authorities imagine Panzeri’s spouse, Maria Dolores Colleoni, and daughter, Silvia Panzeri, had been conscious of the illicit lobbying and have requested their extradition from Italy. The 2 girls deny the accusations.

Niccolò Figà-Talamanca

Niccolò Figà-Talamanca is the secretary-general of No Peace With out Justice, a non-profit organisation devoted to human rights, democracy and the rule of legislation, with consideration to the Center East and North Africa.

Each No Peace With out Justice and Combat Impunity are suspected of being exploited to launder cash.

Since his arrest, Figà-Talamanca stays self-suspended from the job.

Little is understood concerning the NGO director, moreover his array of worldwide diplomas, an appointment as visiting scholar in New York and a brief stint on the Worldwide Crimes Tribunal on the previous Yugoslavia.

Figà-Talamanca is likely one of the 4 individuals who have been formally charged as a part of the Belgian investigation, along with Kaili, Giorgi and Panzeri. He was initially launched with an digital bracelet however the choice was later reversed and he was despatched again to jail.

“We wish to state our absolute certainty of the equity of his work and his non-involvement in any wrongdoing,” his household mentioned in a statement. “We’re positive that by the top of the investigation (…) Niccolo’s place will probably be clarified and that he will probably be cleared of any accusation.”

Marc Tarabella

Marc Tarabella is a Belgian MEP who sat with the socialist group since his election in 2004 till the eruption of the corruption scandal in December, when his membership was suspended.

Tarabella has not been charged nor detained. His home was reportedly raided by police within the presence of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Belgian authorities have requested the lifting of his parliamentary immunity, which protects MEPs from inquiry and detention until they’re caught within the act of a criminal offense.

As MEP, Tarabella sits on a number of committees, together with the delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula.

In November, Tarabella defended Qatar’s labour rights within the context of the FIFA World Cup, utilizing related arguments to these voiced by Eva Kaili in the identical plenary session.

“A lot progress stays to be made, however (Qatar) remains to be the nation that has launched into the trail of reform,” Tarabella mentioned, talking in French.

“What’s essential is that, when the lights of the World Cup have gone out, the constructive evolution continues not solely in Qatar, however it might unfold to all of the international locations of the Arabian Peninsula.”

His lawyer has defended his innocence and mentioned Tarabella is in favour of being stripped of his immunity. The lawyer additionally admitted the 59-year-old MEP had did not declare a working journey he made to Qatar in 2020.

Andrea Cozzolino

Andrea Cozzolino is an Italian MEP, first elected in 2019.

He belonged to the socialist group till his suspension in December, when he was additionally requested to step down as chair of the delegation for relations with Maghreb international locations.

Cozzolino, although, stays a titular member of that delegation and of the subcommittee on human rights.

In his leaked confession, Francesco Giorgi straight accused Cozzolino, his former boss, and Tarabella of accepting cash from Qatar and Morocco by Panzeri.

Cozzolino has not been charged nor arrested. Belgian authorities have requested the lifting of his immunity. “I am prepared to guard my integrity and my status in each venue,” the MEP has mentioned.

Different alleged gamers

In addition to these six names, there’s a wider vary of secondary characters.

Throughout the December raids, two further males had been detained after which launched: Eva Kaili’s father, Alexandros Kailis, who was reportedly caught with a suitcase full of money at Sofitel resort in Brussels; and Luca Visenti, secretary-general of the Worldwide Commerce Union Confederation (ITUC), who admitted to accepting a €50,000 donation from Combat Impunity.

The title of Belgian MEP Maria Enviornment has additionally gained prominence after the workplace of her assistant was sealed by Belgian police. Enviornment has denied any reference to Qatar and has used social media to criticise journalists for his or her reporting. After it grew to become clear she had did not declare paid-for journeys to the Gulf nation, she resigned from her place as chair of the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights.

Enviornment’s supposedly shut relationship with Panzeri has attracted the eye of Belgian media.

Scrutiny has additionally turned to Abderrahim Atmoun, Morocco’s Ambassador to Poland, who, in accordance with paperwork obtained by Le Soir and la Repubblica, was involved with Giorgi, Panzeri and Cozzolino.

The paperwork additionally recommend that brokers from Morocco’s overseas intelligence company, referred to as DGED (Route Générale des Études et de la Documentation), had been equally concerned.

Morocco has denied the claims, calling them “repeated media assaults” and “authorized harassment.”