As expected and by a large majority, the European Parliament on Thursday lifted the immunity from prosecution against Belgian member Marc Tarabella and Italian Andrea Cozzolino, both of whom are part of the European Parliament’s social democratic party group, S&D.
Both are embroiled in the Qatargate scandal, in which in early December Belgian police cracked down on suspected bribery offenses linked to the European Parliament. Since then, the Greek member of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, has been arrested, as well as the former Italian member of the European Parliament, Pier Antonio Panziri, and two other people. In order to act against Tarabella and Cozzolino, approval was first required, which has now been officially granted by the EU Parliament through a show of hands. Even Tarabella herself, who maintains her innocence, also voted to raise her immunity.
This chaos revolves around accusations of distributing large sums of money to influence various parliamentary decisions. No country has been officially identified, although the Belgian press has leaked that it is primarily Qatar and Morocco.
Former member Panziri has reached an agreement with prosecutors promising to provide “significant, revealing, truthful, and complete testimony about the involvement of third parties and, if so, his involvement in criminal activity” in exchange for leniency.
In December, Belgian police raided a series of addresses in Brussels, mainly linked to an organization working for impunity and its leaders: former Italian member of the European Union Pier Antonio Panzieri and a man working as an aide in parliament. Also among the people interrogated and arrested is the aide’s partner: Greek MEP Eva Kaili.
Police confiscated a total of about SEK 15 million in small denomination papers from the organisation’s representative, Kylie and her father, who were visiting Brussels.
Kylie and her accomplice, Panziri and one other person have been formally charged with “participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption,” according to a statement from Belgian federal prosecutors.
“Parties in political and/or strategic positions within the European Parliament are suspected of having received large sums of money or made large gifts to influence Parliament’s decisions,” prosecutors said.
Officially, no country has been identified. However, according to Belgian newspapers, it is mainly about Qatar and Morocco.
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