The Belgian investigating judge in charge of the investigation into the alleged bribery scheme orchestrated by Qatar in Brussels, Michel Claise, has decided on Sunday to keep four of the detained suspects in prison, "accused of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption" and has released two others. The statement from the Belgian Prosecutor's Office has not confirmed the identity of these people, but according to judicial sources cited by AFP and the Belgian press, one of them is the Greek MEP Eva Kaili, vice president of the European Parliament.
The other three detainees, according to these sources, are the couple of the Greek politician, the parliamentary adviser Francesco Giorgi, who works for the European socialist group; the former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and, finally, the lobbyist Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, Secretary General of the NGO No Peace Without Justice. The statement from the Belgian Public Ministry finally brings to six the number of people arrested in the macro-raid on Friday. The two who have been released today are, according to the sources cited, the Secretary General of the International Confederation of Workers, Luca Visentini, and the father of the Greek MEP, whom the police caught trying to flee with bags full of money. According to Le Soir, the latter would be released "with conditions", something that the Prosecutor's Office has not specified.
The operation is still open and yesterday at eight o'clock in the afternoon the agents of the anti-corruption unit of the Public Ministry carried out a new search "at the home of a MEP". The official statement does not give the name of the politician in question but the newspaper Le Soir, which gave the scoop on the investigation, affirms that it is the French-speaking Belgian socialist Marc Tarabella. Already on Friday the agents searched and sealed the office of an assistant linked to Tarabella at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels. "In the interest of the investigation, no more information is going to be given for the moment," concludes the Prosecutor's Office.
Both Kaili and Panzeri were expelled from their respective political parties (PASOK in the case of the Greek, Partito Democratico in the Italian) within hours of the seriousness of the crimes for which they are being investigated. The European socialist group, to which Kaili belongs, will propose in the plenary session that begins tomorrow to withdraw her position as vice president, a proposal for which she will need the support of three fifths of the chamber and which will go ahead without problems. Meanwhile, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, informed the other thirteen vice-presidents of the institution last night that she has suspended the powers delegated to the Greek deputy for the position of her vice-president.
The scandal has caused a real earthquake in Brussels. The European Parliament is the institution with the best image in the eyes of the citizens of the Twenty-seven and, beyond its role as co-legislator, it is a staunch defender of the rule of law in the Union in the face of abuses in countries such as Hungary or Poland. Chamber sources wonder with what authority they are now going to criticize these member states. The Greens and the European United Left (GUE) group have called for a thorough reform of the institution's code of conduct and internal control mechanisms as the only possible response to this scandal, the worst facing an institution this year turns 70 years old
