Marc Tarabella was to receive a total of 250,000 euros, according to reports 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 file of investigation of the corruption case in the European Parliament consulted by 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 “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.
Corruption case in the European Parliament: the 1.5 million euros found in Brussels would be derisory compared to the actual sum paid
“Marc Tarabella is of course quite willing 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 has yielded the slightest result. He is charged and imprisoned on the sole statement of a man who admitted to being at the head of a criminal organization. This is 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.