Today, Ms Kaili and the other three arrested are expected to appear before the pre-trial council which will decide whether they will remain in custody pending trial.
By Athena Papakosta
Eva Kaili denies any involvement and insists on her innocence in the case of financing European officials”Qatargate” while, at the same time, investigations continue in executive offices of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. Today, Ms. Kaili and the other three arrested are expected to appear before the pre-trial council which will decide whether they will remain in custody until the trial.
Belgian federal prosecutors are revving up their investigations into the case of financing European officials and new revelations are coming to light every day. Already Mrs. Kaili is a past member of PASOK, the Eurosocialist group Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and yesterday, Tuesday the 13th, he was also deposed as vice-president of the European Parliament with 625 votes in favor, 1 against and 2 abstentions.
There is an uproar in the European Parliament with MEPs in a state of even shock trying to restore confidence in the House by calling for a full internal investigation, in cooperation with the Belgian authorities, and additional measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
All in all, they have been confiscated more than 1.5 million euros from the houses of Kaili and Pantseri in the Belgian capital with 600,000 seized from the former Italian MEP’s home alone. 150,000 euros were found in the Kaili – Giortzi house and another 750,000 euros in a suitcase in a Brussels hotel room in the possession of the father of the former vice-president of the EP, Alexandros. The Belgian public prosecutor’s office released evidence from the investigations involving bundles of 200, 100, 50, 20 and even… 10 euro notes. When Ms. Kaili’s lawyer was asked about it, he replied that “I don’t know if money was found or how much money has been found.”
All four arrested, Eva Caili, Francesco Giorgi, Pier Antonio Panzeri and the so-called F. they are facing charges of participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.
A new round of investigations took place in Brussels with the Belgian authorities seizing hard drives and electronic data from the offices of ten employees of the European Parliament in the Belgian capital, while yesterday at noon new raids were also carried out on the offices of MEPs and their assistants in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg where, according to reports, at least two offices of parliamentary assistants were sealed.
Eva Kaili has now been transferred to a second penitentiary, in the Haren region, with the conditions of her detention reportedly being better than Mr. Dimitrakopoulos, lawyer of Ms. Kailis, speaking to SKAI to mention that while he remained in the prisons of Saint-Gilles she was not given the possibility of the phone call. At the same time, and while the lawyer of the former vice-president of the European Parliament talks about Mrs. Kaili’s concern for her only two-year-old daughter who is being hosted in a “friendly home”, details of the testimony of the little one’s partner and father see the light of day publicity. According to the Italian Corriere Della Sera in his long testimony Francesco Giorgi was a river of revelations and allegedly confirmed to the Belgian authorities the evidence they had collected during their investigation. The Italian Rai 2 characterizes him as a “deep throat”, i.e. the one who cooperates with the authorities and even allows them to open the investigation further. According to information from the Italian press, Giorgi is said to be the one who informed Ms. Kaili’s father about the attacks.
The shadow of “Qatargate” falls heavily on Brussels. As for the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schina, he made it clear that he has nothing to do with the scandal, stressing that in every public statement he made about Qatar, “every word is 100% compatible with the policies of the Commission”. In particular, to a question about whether he received gifts from Doha, Mr. Schinas replied that “yes, they gave me a soccer ball and a box of chocolates.”
The investigations of the Belgian federal authorities continue and today all eyes will turn to the fate of the four. Eva Caili, her partner Francesco Giorgi, Pier Antonio Panzeri and the so-called F will find out if they will continue to remain in prison or not…
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