The European Parliament in Brussels was searched again on Tuesday amid the Qatargate investigation, a corruption scandal involving several MEPs.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced it searched several offices in the European Parliament building, without specifying which ones, but local media reported the office of Marc Tarabella was amongst them.
Tarabella has been charged with public corruption, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation for his alleged involvement in the cash-for-influence scandal following accusations by former MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who is also under investigation. A month ago, he was conditionally released, but charges are still pending against him.
The offices of Andrea Cozzolino also have been searched, RTBF reported. Cozzolino, the MEP who saw his immunity lifted and who was expelled from S&D at the same time as Tarabella, was accused of having received money for defending the interests of Morocco.
Among others linked to the scandal, Eva Kaili, former EU Parliament vice-president, who was incarcerated and recently conditionally released. She, like Tarabella, has expressed her willingness to start working again as an MEP.
In an interview with French newspaper Libération and the Spanish daily El Mundo, Kaili talked about another Belgian MEP whose name was mentioned in the case but who has stayed in the clear so far: Marie Arena (S&D).
Indeed, Panzeri said from the very beginning of the investigation that Arena had “absolutely nothing to do with [the corruption system] and that he would never have dared to offer her anything”.
Kaili explained that Panzeri only gave names to the investigators to protect his wife, daughter, and Arena.
According to Libération, Arena’s name was mentioned several times in the conversations the Belgian secret services and judiciary had access to, and she is mentioned in a note from the secret services dating from July 2022, which served as the basis for investigating Judge Michel Claise’s prosecution.
However, “curiously, Arena, with whom Panzeri travelled to Qatar and Morocco, will never be worried,” Kaili said.
Panzeri, Kaili, her partner Francesco Giorgi, her father, Italian lobbyist Nicolo Figa-Talamanca, and trade unionist Luca Visentini were all arrested on 9 December 2022. Visentini and Kaili’s father were released after questioning, but Giorgi, Kaili, Panzeri and Figa-Talamanca were placed in preventive detention. Then, on 11 February, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella was arrested.
Figa-Talamanca was released by the investigating judge in February, while the four other suspects were all placed under electronic surveillance. Judge Claise then decided to release Giorgi, Tarabella and Kaili under conditions.
Cozzolino expects Italy to extradite him to Belgium. In this case, he and Panzeri are the only two people who remain under arrest.
In an interview with Le Soir published on Tuesday, Federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw declared that fifteen investigators were working on this case. He also mentioned a possible end of this investigation by the end of this year.
(Anne-Sophie Gayet | EURACTIV.com)
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