Marc Tarabella was to receive a total of 250,000 euros. This is what we learn from the minutes of the hearings of Pier Antonio Panzeri before the Central Office for the Repression of Corruption (OCRC) dated February 2 and 13, as well as other documents from the investigation file of the corruption affair in the European Parliament consulted by our colleagues from the newspapers Le Soir and Knack.
“He could tell me yes or no, he said yes to me”, testified Panzeri, under penitent status. Heard on February 13, he therefore reiterated his accusations against Mr. Tarabella. The first exchange of money, 20,000 euros, would have taken place shortly after the European elections of 2019, in a restaurant in Saint-Gilles. Then would have followed other donations, for a total of “from 120,000 to 140,000 euros”, between June 2019 and June 2022. The ambition was, says Mr. Panzeri, that Marc Tarabella received at the end of the legislature, in 2024, a total of 250,000 euros. Heavy accusations from one of the first suspects in the case.
He didn’t dodge any questions
“Marc Tarabella is of course quite ready to respond to this new version of the confessions of the pseudo-repentant Panzeri”, reacted his lawyer Me Töller. “He has nothing to reproach himself for (…) In front of the investigators, he did not avoid any questions and always answered them in all frankness”. And to recall “that no search gave the slightest result. He is charged and imprisoned on the sole statements of a man who admitted to being the head of a criminal organization. It’s not acceptable.”
In addition, the 67-year-old former Italian MEP admits having received, with Francesco Giorgi (his former parliamentary assistant and the companion of Eva Kaili, also charged), at least 2.6 million euros from Qatar. , Morocco and Mauritania.
Pier Antonio Panzeri has also brought new charges against Eva Kaili, the former vice-president of the European Parliament as well as MEPs Andrea Cozzolino and Lara Comi. The latter, a member of Forza Italia, is mentioned for the first time in this file.