Former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, the alleged mastermind behind the Qatargate scandal, has decided to collaborate with Belgian justice to shed light on the scandal, which has shaken the European Parliament.
Given that Panzeri will have to speak the truth to get a lesser sentence, Brussels stakeholders are already panicking about whose name could crop up and from which EU institution.
On Tuesday, Panzeri admitted his participation in and supervision of corruption activities linked to Qatar and Morocco. He signed “a memorandum with the Federal prosecutor under articles 216/1 to 216/8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the Federal prosecutor’s office said.
The office announced Panzeri signed a “repentance agreement” and will collaborate with authorities in exchange for a “limited sentence”: reportedly a five years prison term (of which four will be suspended), a fine of €80,000 as well as the confiscation of his seized assets, estimated at €1 million according to the office.
Panzeri will have to explain to Belgian authorities in detail how the organisation worked, its structures and payments, and if other people or countries have been involved.
The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament has already been dealt a severe blow in the Qatargate scandal.
In addition to former MEP Panzeri, EU lawmaker Eva Kaili and her partner Francesco Giorgi have been imprisoned and are awaiting their own court cases.
On 10 December, when Panzeri was arrested, he accused Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D) – vice-chair of the EP’s Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP) – of having received “gifts” from Qatar.
Tarabella’s home was searched the next day, and the office of his assistants was sealed. No money was found, he was not arrested, and the Belgian has claimed his innocence since then. However, he was suspended from his national party, the Socialist Party (PS, Wallonia), and suspended himself from the S&D group in the EP.
On Tuesday, L’Echo revealed that, on 10 December, Panzeri told Belgian investigators that he paid €120,000 in cash to Tarabella for his help in files related to Qatar. Tarabella’s lawyer Maxim Toller maintains that his client received nothing.
On Monday, Panzeri’s lawyer Laurent Kennes told on RTBF TV that “one of the reasons’” Panzeri wanted to speak out is because “he knows he betrayed the trust of certain people,” including Belgian MEP Marie Arena (S&D), also cited by the press reporting on Qatargate.
“He will mention her name to say that she had absolutely nothing to do with [the corruption system] and that he would never have dared to offer her anything.”
Sources in Brussels told EURACTIV that the decision to extradite his daughter from Italy to Belgium cornered him, so he decided to speak out.
Regarding the information on Tarabella, Kennes underlines that “the information comes from a leak” and that he cannot “communicate on the case under investigation”. “It is unfortunate that leaks are mentioning the names of people who have not even been heard yet,” he added.
Last week on LN24, French MEP Manon Aubry said that Tarabella asked her to stop her “obsession” with Qatar, arguing that the country “made progress”. “Now I understand better why Marc had mentioned this to me,” she explained.
A source close to the matter said EU lawmakers from the previous EU Parliament mandate are also in the spotlight. Yet, rumours suggest that individuals from other EU institutions dealing with visa liberalisation may also be on the authorities’ radar.
Exclusion from S&D
On Tuesday, before the latest revelations, S&D president Iratxe Garcia Perez requested that Tarabella should exclude himself from the group and become a non-attached member of the Parliament, something Tarabella has refused.
Toller said that his client could not accept this proposal. “If he was convicted, it would be understandable that he be excluded, but since he is not charged, accused, and has not even been heard, it would seem premature and unfair,” he said, L’Echo reported.
However, Tarabella and Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino — former chair of the Maghreb delegation, who is also under an immunity lift procedure — will be excluded from the group if they continue refusing to exclude themselves. “If they do not [exclude themselves] on their own initiative, the group will take a decision this week,” Garcia Perez reportedly said.
Belgian justice has requested the lifting of Cozzolino and Tarabella’s immunities, although the Belgian has not been charged yet. A procedure for the waiver of immunity was launched on Monday during the EP plenary, and a decision should be taken before 13 February. Once immunities are lifted, Belgian authorities will hear the two MEPs.
Tarabella “supports” the lifting of his immunity, as he said he would not “hide” behind it.
The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will be responsible for giving an opinion on the lifting and will have the opportunity to hear the two MEPs behind closed doors. Manon Aubry will be rapporteur, L’Echo reported on Monday.
The Kaili’s case
Greek MEP Eva Kaili will have a new hearing with the Belgian authorities regarding her new release request on 19 January. Still, it is not clear how Panzeri’s move will affect her request.
In Athens, legal experts estimate that Panzeri could either harm further or ease the position of Kaili.
For her part, Kaili has hinted that Panzeri took advantage of her MEP immunity to hide his money in her apartment.
A source close to the matter told EURACTIV that from all accusations Kaili faces, it would be hard to prove she was not involved in money laundering.
The EPP’s cautious approach
EURACTIV was informed that on the sidelines of the December 2022 plenary in Strasbourg, a closed-door EPP meeting took place to see how to handle Qatargate regarding communications.
Although there were calls for an “attack” against the socialist group, the EPP’s chief Manfred Weber allegedly suggested a cautious “wait and see” approach.
According to a source present in the discussion, Weber referred to “individual responsibilities” and not political party ones.
“It was an unofficial line to refrain from attacks against socialists on the matter”, an EPP source told EURACTIV.
EURACTIV understands that considering that the entire scandal is yet to be unveiled, the centre-right wants to keep quiet in case a name related to them pops up during the investigation.
The EU-Qatar Friendship Group, which was immediately suspended after the scandal erupted, also included seven MEPs from the EPP.
The webpage of the Friendship Group on the Qatar embassy’s website has been removed, and the embassy did not reply to a EURACTIV request to provide the list of the participants in this group.
(Anne-Sophie Gayet, Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
