1.5 million euros in cash seized in corruption investigation linked to the EP

In Belgian press reports, based on the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, it was reported that 1.5 million euros in cash were seized during the searches carried out within the framework of the investigation.

It was noted that a significant part of the money was found in the apartments of Eva Kaili and Pier-Antonio Panzeri, a former Italian deputy from the S&D group in AP and a member of the Italian Article One Party.

The Belgian daily Le Soir, which first reported on the corruption investigation, published photos of bundles of cash taken by police.

The newspaper also announced that Kaili’s father, Alexandros Kaili, was also detained in a Brussels hotel with a bag full of money. Alexandros Kaili is said to have been released later.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said that searches were carried out at 20 points in Belgium and Italy in the framework of the corruption investigation involving a Gulf country, 600 thousand euros were found in the house of a suspect, several hundred thousand euros in a bag in a hotel room in Brussels and 150 thousand euros in the apartment of a EP deputy, he had explained. The names of the prosecutor’s office were not included in the statement.

The four detainees, along with Kaili, are expected to be brought tomorrow for a preliminary hearing in the Brussels court on corruption and bribery charges.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced on December 9 that an investigation was launched into suspicions that an unidentified Gulf country had delivered large sums of cash and offered high-value gifts to people strategically located in the European Parliament to influence the decisions of the European Parliament for several months. .

Media reports claimed that Eva Kaili and others received bribes from Qatar to influence economic and political decisions in the European Parliament. Qatar has denied the allegations. (AA)