Italian police this Friday searched the home in Naples of MEP Andrea Cozzolino, suspected of taking part in the bribery scheme in the European Parliament with Qatar and Morocco that executed a European arrest warrant, but did not find him.
Agents of the Fiscale Garde (police specialized in tax crimes) went to his home in the Neapolitan neighborhood of Vomero, but were unable to locate him. reported the local press.
One of his lawyers, Dezio Ferraro, told the Ansa agency that Cozzolino has been hospitalized due to health problems.
Andrea Cozzolino, 60 years old and a former member of the Italian Communist Party, began his career in Europe in 2009, in the ranks of the Democratic Party – which suspended its militancy.
Last week, the European Parliament revoked the parliamentary immunity of MEPs Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino, suspected of involvement in the bribery scheme in exchange for political influence in the European hemisphere, believed to be led by Qatar and Morocco.
The scandal was denounced last December and primarily affected the then Vice-President of that European body, Greek Social Democrat Eva Kaili, arrested red-handed and charged from the moment of the revelations and arrests.
Also arrested was former Italian Socialist MP Pier Antonio Panzeri, who is believed to be the head of the corruption scheme, but made an agreement to cooperate with the Belgian judicial investigation as “repentant” in return for a reduced sentence.
Panzeri’s wife and daughter, Maria Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri, were placed under house arrest in Milan, in northern Italy, on December 10, accused of knowing the then MEP’s actions, but on January 26, the Italian justice set them free. , after Belgium had given up requesting the extradition of both.
In addition to Panzeri and Kaili, the Belgian police also arrested the friend of the Greek politician, parliamentary adviser Francesco Giorgi, and the lobbyist and secretary general of the non-governmental organization No Peace Without Justice, Niccolò Figa-Talamanca, who was released last week.
In Brussels, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella was arrested today for questioning, while at the same time new house searches were carried out in the context of the ‘Qatargate’ corruption scandal, the Belgian public prosecutor’s office announced.
Tarabella, whose parliamentary immunity was recently lifted, is suspected of involvement in the corruption scandal and was arrested as a suspect for questioning at 6 a.m. (5 a.m. in Lisbon), according to the Belgian press.
The searches took place in a bank vault in Liège (80 km north of Brussels), which belonged to the MEP from the Socialists & Democrats group, and in the buildings of the municipality of Anthisnes, chaired by Tarabella.
Tarabella was denounced by Panzeri for allegedly receiving around €100,000 to “soften” his positions regarding Qatar and the organization of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Source: DN
