Qatargate- Unraveling: The money trail from Qatar, Morocco to Brazil

By Athena Papakosta

With a tangle. This is what it looks like Qatargate which is now also evolving into Morocco-Gate. With a tangle of persons, a tangle of states, a tangle of money routes, a tangle of revelations. And we’re not even halfway through a case with… tentacles that can even extend up to Brazil.

First, today, Monday, we await the hearing of his wife Pier Antonio Panzeri, Maria Dolores Colleoni, in order to decide whether or not to extradite her to Belgium. The same hearing will be repeated tomorrow, Tuesday, for the daughter of the former MEP, Silvia Panzeri. The heads of the Belgian and Italian secret services have been working closely together for the next few hours they will have a video conference to review the data they have gathered. While, of course, the big “event” of the week is none other than testimony of Eva Kaili, the most prominent of the four defendants, who are in prison facing preliminary charges of corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization. The Greek MEP is expected to pass the Thursday, December 22the threshold of the judicial council and until then the investigations will continue with the aim of clarifying the case.

Right now, the authorities are following the path of money with Pancheri and Giorgi’s current bank accounts being targeted even if they are outside of Europe. The purpose of the investigations by the Belgian and Italian authorities is to establish whether there are “hidden” accounts of the ring in foreign countries. So, under the microscope a Brazilian credit institution enters, broadcasts the state Rai with the newspaper La Repubblica naming it. It is the Brazilian Lift Bank, the Italian newspaper reports, noting that Belgium has sent a message to the Milan prosecutors not only to search the gang’s bank accounts but also to look for information and documents from banking institutions outside Europe, specifically this credit institution. At the same time, according to Verita, in addition to cash, the investigation also targets real estate that has been purchased by those involved in the Qatargate scandal.

As regards to Morocco, Politico over the weekend he attempted to shed light with a report by writing about the current ambassador of the country in Warsaw, Abderrahim Atmounwho has been close friends with him for at least 11 years Pier Antonio Pancheri. Together they were its co-presidents of the EU-Morocco Joint Parliamentary Committee. They had traveled to Rabat and according to Atmoun’s Facebook account they have been awarded royal medals of honor for their services to the kingdom. There are also pictures of them together with him Francesco Giorgi to be present at some of them. Anyway, Belgium has launched an investigation into whether Morocco also bought influence in the European Parliament. It has been reported that the extradition warrant to Belgium for Pancheri’s wife and daughter specifically mentions Atmun for “gifts”.

The Authorities are also looking for answers within the European Parliament since the partner of Mrs. Kaili appeared to be pulling the strings in Brussels and Strasbourg obeying the orders of Pantzeri’s “mentor”. Always, according to La Repubblica computers and mobile phones seized from the homes and offices of MEPs, aides and other actors began to “talk” confirming the investigators’ assumptions that it was the 35-year-old Milanese Giorgi who masterfully orchestrated the votes involving Qatar and Morocco under the instructions of former MEP Pancheri. At the same time, the same newspaper links the scandal of financing European officials to the Pegasus malware which is being investigated by the EU.

Particularly, Georgie reportedly had to watch closely the movements of Andrea Cozzolino, his head in the European Parliament who – the authorities do not rule out – being the fifth face of the scandal. At this point it is worth noting that Morocco has been accused of using this particular software to monitor French President Emmanuel Macron while Eva Kaili is a member of the European Parliament committee investigating the issue… Pegasus.

This scandal that shakes Europe looks like the Hydra. In the place of every severed head, another sprouts and the investigations of the Authorities that started in 2021 continue with 12 days left in 2023.

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