One of the accused of 'Qatargate' admits that he was acting for Qatar and Morocco

The Italian parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi and his partner and MEP Eva Kaili.

Both are accused in the plot of alleged bribes 'Qatargate'.STR (AFP)

One of the main defendants in the alleged Qatari bribery plot in the European Parliament, parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, has begun to confess before the Belgian judicial authorities.

And what he tells only amplifies and aggravates the scandal that has been shaking Brussels for a week.

According to court documents obtained by

, Giorgi, a partner of the ousted vice president Eva Kaili, has acknowledged having been part of an organization to influence European issues in favor of Morocco and Qatar.

Giorgi, detained since Friday, officially indicted on Sunday for corruption, money laundering and criminal organization, and whose preventive detention was confirmed this Wednesday, also points to the main perpetrators.

And he widens the spectrum of scandal.

He points to Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former Italian Socialist MEP and who now directed the NGO Fight Impunity, whose offices were searched last week as the "leader of the plot".

In a search at his house, the agents found 600,000 euros in cash, as confirmed by the judicial authorities after the revelations in the Belgian press.

In addition, the parliamentary assistant, in whose house —shared with Kaili— the police found 150,000 euros in cash kept in briefcases, extends the plot and says he “suspects” two other active MEPs who he believes would have received money for acting in favor of these countries.

They are Andrea Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella, members until this week - like the Greek MEP - of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group.

01:54

Eva Kaili: "Qatar sets the course in labor rights, abolition of the kafala and introduction of the minimum wage"

Al Marri, Qatar's Minister of Labour, meets with Kaili, Vice President of the European Parliament, during a meeting in QatarPhoto: Reuters |

Video: eudebates.tv

Tarabella, a Belgian socialist, has already been suspended from the S&D and his national party, although he has not been charged so far.

The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, had to return from Malta on Saturday to attend the search of the MEP's home, a requirement imposed by Belgian law as it is a deputy with diplomatic immunity.

Tarabella, as her lawyer has also insisted, has repeatedly denied having anything to do with the scandal or having received gifts or money from this plot – the authorities estimate the amount used to influence the Eurochamber at a total of 1.5 million.

The appointment of Cozzolino, who chairs the parliamentary delegation for relations with the Maghreb, broadens the plot and further complicates the situation of the S&D group, to which most of those involved have belonged until now.

After a tense meeting of the progressive family on Monday in Strasbourg before the last plenary session of the year began, the Italian MEP, until now only linked to the investigations by one of his assistants, was removed from his duties in the group, as than others affected by the plot (Tarabella himself, Marie Arena, also Belgian, and another Italian, Pietro Bartolo).

According to

, neither Cozzolino nor his lawyer have wanted to comment - the MEP is completely silent and has not responded to requests from this and other newspapers - on whether he has received money or gifts in this case.

Both Giorgi and Panzeri and a third accused and detained since the weekend, the Italian Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, who directed another NGO called No Peace Without Justice, appeared on Wednesday before the correctional court in Brussels.

The magistrate decreed that Giorgi and Panzeri remain in pretrial detention, while he released the third defendant on supervised release —with an electronic bracelet.

The Greek Kaili, dismissed on Monday by an absolute majority from one of the 14 vice-presidencies of the European Parliament, will finally appear next week.

She, at least, until then, she will also remain in prison.

Follow all the international information on

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber