Cathargate: a corruption conspiracy involving the Vice President of the European Parliament

Corruption conspiracy in the European Parliament that is splashing Qatar and Morocco, the extent of which is still not fully known, overshadowed the latest summit in 2022, which the leaders of the institutions of the community and the heads of state and government of the European Union are celebrating in Brussels.

Eva Kylie44 years old, served as Vice President European Parliamentwas arrested along with several others over the weekend following an investigation by Belgian prosecutors into bribery to influence legislative positions.

The Social Democrat MEP is accused of accepting bribes from Qatar to defend the interests of the emirate in the European Parliament in a case referred to by various European media outlets as “Katargate”.

The scandal stopped the filing of a visa waiver report in Qatar and Kuwait at a meeting scheduled for last Monday in the European Parliament. In light of the investigations carried out, this report should be returned to the commission,” said Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola.

Qatar vehemently denied the accusations, but judicial sources in Belgium confirmed to the press that the country was at the center of the Belgian investigation.

As a result of a high-profile scandal, the plenum of the European Parliament was dismissed from his post Eva Kyliein a vote in which there were 625 votes to only one against and two abstentions.

Kylie She was also expelled from the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) and expelled from the social democratic bloc in the European Parliament.

Among those arrested in the case of the scandal of the spouse KylieFrancesco Giorgi and former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday that a significant amount of cash was seized in raids carried out at three different locations.

According to this source, 600,000 euros (about $630,000) were found in the home of former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri; 150,000 euros in an apartment Kylieand 750,000 in a suitcase in a hotel room hired by the vice president’s father.

The police also raided the offices of the European Parliament in Brussels to seize computer data from a dozen officials.

The MEP was scheduled to appear this Wednesday before a court in Brussels, which was supposed to decide whether she would continue to be in prison. According to his lawyer, Kylie he was unable to stand trial in Brussels because of a strike in the prison where he is being held. Therefore, at the request of the defense, it was decided to postpone the hearing until December 22. The remaining three people, who have been arrested since Sunday in this case, have appeared before the Brussels Council chamber, which is to decide on their further detention.

Who is Eva Kylie?

Originally from Thessaloniki, the second city of Greece, Eva Kylie He entered politics when he was 20 years old. In 1998, she became the city’s municipal councillor. For a time, she was considered the rising star of the Pasok-Kinal Socialist Party.

After graduating in architecture, he studied international and European relations and attended courses in journalism. Between 2004 and 2007 Kylie presents the news of one of the country’s main private channels Mega. In the same year, at only 29 years old, she was elected to the Greek Parliament. She becomes the youngest member of Pasok’s party.

In 2014, she was elected Member of the European Parliament for the Socialist and Democratic (S&D) group, a mandate that she retained in the 2019 European elections. In January 2022, she became one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Legislative Assembly. Kylie he was part of the delegation responsible for the development of relations between the European Union and the Arabian Peninsula.

Kylie In early November, he visited Qatar, where, together with the Qatar Minister of Labor, he congratulated himself on the emirate’s reforms in this sector.

“Today’s World Cup in Qatar is concrete proof of how sports diplomacy can bring about the historic transformation of a country whose reforms have inspired the Arab world,” he told the European Chamber on November 22.

Kylie’s boyfriend confesses

Italy’s Francesco Giorgi, a sentimental associate of former European Parliament Vice President Eva Cailli, has admitted to being involved in a bribe plot in the European Parliament and has pointed to several participants, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported on Thursday.

Giorgi, 35, the father of a two-year-old girl and Kylie, 44, pleaded guilty to the police and the investigating judge during the interrogations he was subjected to by the Belgian authorities in connection with the scandal. last Friday.

A parliamentary aide, whom a judge this Wednesday decided to keep in custody pending trial, pointed to former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzieri as the mastermind behind the plot, from whom police confiscated 700,000 euros in his home and who is also charged and in custody. in pre-trial detention. Pantsieri’s wife and daughter were detained in Italy, and Belgium demanded their extradition.

The young Italian also accused two other Social Democratic MEPs: Belgian Marc Tarabella, whose address had already been searched by the authorities as part of the investigation, but who was at large; and the Italian Andrea Cozzolino, for whom Giorgi worked as an assistant.

Kylie, for her part, is on remand and is due to appear before a judge on the 22nd, after failing to appear this Wednesday due to a public workers’ strike. In the documents, the police found hundreds of thousands of euros in cash in the house of Kylie and Giorgi, with whom he had been in a relationship for five years.

The agents also surprised Kylie’s father leaving a Brussels hotel with bags of money, a circumstance that allowed them to act despite the Greek politician’s parliamentary immunity, realizing that he was committing an egregious crime.

The newspaper Le Soir, which, along with Kanak, covered the scandal, adds that Giorgi did not accuse Belgian MEP Maria Arena, whom the police have not yet reached, but who has released information that one of her assistants in the European Chamber is also accused of conspiracy.

New figures released by the newspaper increasingly point to Morocco, not just Qatar, as a source of bribes. In particular, he points to the Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmun, and two agents of the Moroccan special services, whose names he does not name. (According to EFE and AFP)