The two men were arrested on December 9 at the same time as the Vice-President of the European Foundation (removed from office at the same time), Greek Socialist Member of Parliament Eva Kaili, and her companion, Italian parliamentary official Francesco Giorgi.
The four were accused of “belonging to a criminal organization”, “money laundering” and “corruption”, in a scandal known as “Qatargate”, which sparked a shock wave in the European Parliament and tensions between Qatar and the European Union. ).
The Brussels Council Court decided on December 14 to keep Panziri and Georgi in pretrial detention for a month, and last Thursday it took the same position towards Kylie.
The Brussels court that issued the indictments today considered Pierre Antonio Panzi’s appeal against this decision.
Finally, and “at the request” of Panziri, “the processing of the ‘dossier’ has been postponed to January 17,” the federal prosecutor noted, which means the preventive detention of the former MEP.
In turn, the fourth defendant in the case, Niccolò Vega Talamanca, an Italian in charge of the NGO “No Peace Without Justice”, was granted parole on December 14 with an electronic wrist bracelet, but the procedure was suspended due to the fact that the Public Prosecutor appealed.
The court that handed down the indictments today decided to “replace the electronic bracelet method (…) with a plain and simple extension of pre-trial detention”, a measure that Vega Talamanca’s lawyer Barbara Hoylibroek deemed “disappointing”.
Francesco Giorgi has not resumed his stay in detention, and Eva Cayley’s lawyers have indicated that they have no intention of doing so.
In Belgium, the survey resulted in 20 searches between December 9 and 12, including in the eastern region. A judicial source indicated that the Belgian investigators conducting this investigation confiscated a total of 1.5 million euros in cash.
About 600 thousand euros were found in the apartment of Panziri, who in 2019 founded the NGO “Fighting Impunity” in Brussels after his mandate in the European Parliament.
The wife and daughter of a former Italian parliamentarian, the target of a European arrest warrant, have been arrested in Italy, where they are contesting their transfer to Belgium.
Eva Kayli was dismissed in mid-December from the position of Vice-President of the European Parliament. Eva Kayley systematically denied receiving money from Qatar to influence political decisions with European institutions, as her lawyer accused Giorgi of “betraying the trust” of her partner.
According to a judicial source, bags with banknotes worth 150,000 euros were discovered in Kylie’s apartment in Brussels, and her father was caught in the act with a bag containing 750,000 euros in cash.
The “Qatargate” scandal is shaking European institutions, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, recently stated that there will be “absolute tolerance for corruption” in the institution, having already promised reforms to this effect.
“Hardcore alcohol maven. Hipster-friendly analyst. Introvert. Devoted social media advocate.”
