The investigating judge in charge of the investigation of the Qatargate bribery scheme, Michel Claise, obtained his first guilty plea yesterday. According to court documents obtained by the newspapers Le Soir and La Reppublica, Francesco Giorgi, parliamentary adviser and partner of MEP Eva Kaili, confessed in court his participation in the facts investigated, pointed to Pier Antonio Panzeri as the leader of the plot and He demanded the freedom of his partner.
“I did it all for money I didn’t need. But now release my partner, he must be with our daughter,” he declared, according to La Reppublica. Giorgi, 35, has been Kaili’s partner for five years, with whom he has a girl of about two years of age. Although in their respective accounts on social networks they have always been very discreet about their relationship, in parliamentary circles it was well known because they both belong to the European socialist group and many in Brussels wondered what it would be of their baby when the couple and also the father of the Greek politician were arrested (the grandfather was released this weekend).
Giorgi defined his role in the organization as a mere “carrier” of the cash that Panzeri, who held a seat in the European Parliament between 2005 and 2019, used to buy wills in favor of both Qatar and Morocco. According to the documents obtained, the network was in direct contact with the foreign intelligence services of the Alaouite kingdom (DGED) led by Yassine Mansouri, and the diplomat Abderrahim Atmoun, current ambassador to Poland previously in charge of relations with the European Union. and a well-known figure in Brussels.
In his statement, Giorgi has implicated several other Socialist MEPs in the plot. In the first place, it is the Belgian of Italian origin Marc Tarabella, whose address was searched on Saturday by Belgian police officers but against whom there are currently no charges; Tarabella, who went from being very skeptical about the human rights situation in Qatar to fervently defending progress in the emirate, denies any involvement in the events.
The second name mentioned by Giorgi is MEP Andrea Cozzolino, for whom he works as an assistant. The politician voluntarily requested on Monday his temporary suspension from the European socialist group until the facts are clarified. Giorgio, on the other hand, has not cited as implicated the MEP Maria Arena, a Belgian socialist who actively supported the causes of the NGO that Panzeri seems to have used as a cover for her criminal activities. The relationship between Giorgi and Panzeri dates back at least eight years: one of the first photos of his work that the adviser posted on his Twitter account was to support the MEP’s re-election campaign in 2014.
The judge decided yesterday to keep Panzeri and Giorgio in preventive detention, while relaxing the detention regime of the third person involved, an Italian lobbyist named Niccolo Figà-Talamanca. Eva Kaili is also still in prison, waiting to be able to hold her hearing before the judge on December 22. A prison strike yesterday prevented her from being transferred on time to the Brussels Court of Justice and her lawyer requested a postponement of her appearance so that she could go in person. The four are accused of criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.
Through her lawyer, Kaili claims to be unaware of the existence of the money found in her home and says that only her partner can vouch for it. In the macro-raid on Friday, the police found around 750,000 euros in cash in the suitcase that her father kept in a hotel and around 150,000 more hidden in bags in her house. This situation allowed the agents to arrest the MEP, the protagonist of a brilliant career in Pasok, considering that she was committing a flagrant crime.
