Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino is being held in Brussels under the so-called ‘Qatargate’, over alleged bribes paid by Qatar, Morocco and other countries to gain influence in the European Parliament, Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported on Monday.
A judge will now check his testimony and decide on Tuesday whether to uphold the arrest warrant or to place him on probation or with an electronic ankle bracelet, the spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor explained.
Judicial sources quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA had said last Thursday that the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office had withdrawn a European arrest warrant against Cozzolino.
The ‘Qatargate’ influence scandal, which rocked the European Parliament (EP) in December 2022, arose when Belgian detectives seized the houses of then Vice-President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili and Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri during house searches in Brussels , about 1.5 million euros in suitcases and bags.
Belgian justice suspects the existence of cash payments in exchange for political decisions or positions favorable to the interests of Qatar and Morocco in the EP, which Doha and Rabat deny.
Panzeri admitted that those under investigation orchestrated the fraud, and his former parliamentary adviser, Francesco Giorgi, is suspected of playing an important role in this process.
Now former MEP Panzeri – a figure in the Italian trade union world and leader of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brussels since 2019 – later implicated Marc Tarabella, who denies having committed any illegality or irregularity, as has Eva Kaili.
Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, the seventh suspect in this case, had already contested the obligation to appear before the Belgian judiciary before his arrest when the European arrest warrant was issued against him.
Former Greek MEP Eva Kaili was also detained, she was released in mid-April on the condition that she remain under house arrest with an electronic bracelet that would allow her to track her location and was no longer required to wear her electronic bracelet by the end of May. to go free, but with supervision while the investigations continue.
In early May, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and Italian parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, who were under investigation in the same trial, were released, but also placed under surveillance.
Source: DN
