Following four months of imprisonment after the Qatargate scandal was revealed, Belgian justice decided on Wednesday to release Greek MEP Eva Kaili on bail but with an electronic bracelet as the “risks,” the Belgian authorities saw still exist, according to a document seen by EURACTIV.
It’s not clear yet when she will leave the prisons in Haren, as for now, there are no electronic bracelets available.
Former EU Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili is now forced to stay away from her partner Francesco Giorgi, who was also released in late February and has pleaded guilty in the Qatargate scandal. This is due to a clause in the court decision on her release clearly stating different residence addresses for Kaili and Giorgi.
A source close to the matter told EURACTIV that Kaili would stay with her child and still be able to have telephone calls with her husband, but these calls will be monitored.
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The reasoning behind her release
Kaili was the only remaining suspect in the case, still held in custody.
The alleged Qatargate mastermind, Pier Antonio Panzeri, her partner Giorgi and Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella were all released with an electronic bracelet.
Panzeri and Giorgi have admitted their involvement in the scandal, while Kaili and Tarabella have insisted on their innocence.
But the reasoning behind Kaili’s release raises more questions than answers, according to a document seen by EURACTIV.
The three reasons that kept Kaili in custody were the risk of repeating illegal activities, the possibility of falsifying evidence, and an attempt to avoid the execution of a sentence by fleeing.
According to the document signed by investigator Michel Claise, these risks “still exist” however “, there is nothing to prevent preventive detention with electronic monitoring”.
Contacted by EURACTIV, sources close to Kaili estimated the main reason behind her release was the fact that following his deal with the Belgian justice to collaborate and give names, Panzeri “spoke” and therefore, the possibilities of falsifying evidence have been significantly minimised.
Kaili insists that there is no evidence proving her guilt in the scandal.
“If they find, they need to submit it, and the main trial will judge it”, a source said.
‘Serious pathology’ in democracy
Spyros Pappas, a Brussels-based lawyer who defends Kaili in another case related to her assistants’ salaries in the European Parliament, told MEGA TV channel that the MEP’s parliamentary rights had been constantly violated.
“It’s a decision that should have been made a long time ago,” Pappas said.
For Pappas, there has been an unjustified obstruction of her parliamentary function with the hindrance caused by “this pre-trial detention in the exercise of Ms. Kaili’s parliamentary duties, which are ensured by the Treaty with the parliamentary immunity”.
“Although her immunity was not lifted, in practice, it was violated both during the search of her home and during the search of the inviolable area of her offices at the European Parliament”, he said.
“This is a serious pathology in democracy at EU level”, he concluded.
In late February, Pappas questioned Kaili’s arrest claiming that the MEP was not caught in the act of committing an offence in Qatargate.
“The police raided her apartment after first arresting her father some miles away – outside a hotel, with the infamous suitcase presumably taken from her apartment,” he said.
Lawyer says lifting MEP Kaili’s immunity was ‘illegal’
Greek lawyer Spyros Pappas has filed an appeal to the General Court of the EU against the European Public Prosecutor’s decision to request the lifting of the immunity of MEP Eva Kaili, claiming that it was illegal because none of the conditions for such a move were met.
After Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi was arrested, she called her father to pick up a suitcase with cash which she later claimed belonged to the alleged mastermind behind Qatargate, Antonio Panzeri.
Her father was arrested outside a Brussels hotel carrying a suitcase with €150,000 inside. After his arrest, the police raided Kaili’s apartment and arrested her too.
But Pappas is seeking to take the case a step further, arguing that even the raid in her European Parliament office was illegal.
“The sealing of the offices of Kaili and her assistants was a violation of the premises of the European Parliament […] This could have been allowed only after permission from the Court of Justice of the EU, but there was none,” Pappas said.
(Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
