The Brussels council chamber decided on February 16 to keep Eva Kaili and Marc Tarabella in detention. They appealed and the indictment chamber confirmed the decision of the council chamber. Eva Kaili therefore lodged an appeal in cassation. The former vice-president of the European Parliament, who claims her innocence, will however not attend the hearing on Wednesday, according to her lawyers.
Five people are currently indicted as part of the investigation into suspicions of corruption in the European Parliament by third countries: Pier Antonio Panzeri, former MEP and founder of the NGO Fight Impunity, Eva Kaili, the former Deputy President of the European Parliament, Francesco Giorgi, her companion and former parliamentary assistant to Pier Antonio Panzeri, lobbyist Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, and MEP Marc Tarabella. The first four were arrested on December 9 and the last on February 10. Two of them were released: Niccolo Figa-Talamanca on February 3 and Francesco Giorgi on February 23. In addition, Pier Antonio Panzeri obtained, on January 17, the status of penitent. He therefore undertook to actively cooperate in the investigation.
The latter is led by the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the examining magistrate Michel Claise. It targets attempts by Qatar to influence the economic and political decision-making of the European Parliament. This Middle Eastern state would have paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to people occupying a political or strategic position within and around the European hemicycle. Morocco also appeared in the investigation, with a possible attempt at corruption led by its intelligence agency, the DGED, and by its ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun.