Qatargate: Investigation into two more EU lawmakers accused of corruption progresses

The Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament arranged this Tuesday for unanimity and without abstentions Strip immunity from two legislators accused of corruption.

This is the Belgian legislator Marc Tarabella and from Italian Andrea Cozzolinowho are wanted by the Belgian authorities on suspicion of being linked to the great corruption scandal known as Qatargate.

“At the request of the Belgian authorities, (the European Parliament) has unanimously decided to waive the immunities of two members of the European Parliament,” wrote the committee’s chairman, Adrian Vazquez Lazara, on her Twitter account.

This way, if the plenary of the chamber approves this Thursday the decisionthe way would be paved for the Belgian Police to proceed with the interrogations on the members of the center-left bloc Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and it even opens up the possibility that they are formally accused.

“The CJEU pronounces on the preliminary ruling presented by Judge Llarena and concludes that an EU Member State cannot deny the execution of a Eurowarrant for the reasons for which Belgium did. The way is paved for the handing over of the fugitives from justice”, added Vázquez Lazara.

So far, Tarabella and Cozzolino They have denied committing crimes and have been willing to testify. The Italian even assured that “was not aware” of the activities of his colleagues defendants, according to what he said last Tuesday before the Eurochamber’s Committee on Legal Affairs.

Also, one of his lawyers, Federico Contehad explained after that hearing that his client “rejected the very generic hypothesis of the investigation formulated against him” and declared that He has not received money “directly or indirectly, in cash or in any other way”.

“His political activity in matters of Qatar and Morocco is incompatible with the assumption that he was part of a network of influence in favor of these countries”continued the lawyer days ago and concluded by saying that “in order to detach Parliament from media pressure” the same Cozzolino had expressed his intention to waive his parliamentary immunity.

This is a new chapter in the biggest scandal in the history of the European Union that broke out last December when hundreds of thousands of euros were seized after a round of raids in Brussels. Investigators have pointed out that it would be a case of corruption through which the Qatari authorities delivered money and important gifts to influential members of Parliament in order to change the image of the country and manipulate votes in their favor on certain debated issues. on the premmises.

In a first instance, four people were charged with the crimes of corruption, money laundering and for being members of a criminal organization.

They were the Greek legislator eva kaili, who was serving as vice president of the assembly but was ousted after the scandal came to light; her partner and parliamentary adviser to her, French Giorgi; former S&D lawmaker Pier Antonio Panzeri; Y Niccolo Figa-Talamancadirector of an NGO.

For their part, both Qatar and Morocco -also mentioned in the case- have denied any participation.

Also, in the course of the investigation, Panzeri’s wife and daughter were arrested, accused of participating in the bribery scheme. However, his lawyer assured that they were released from house arrest after the Belgian authorities desisted from requesting their transfer for interrogation.

After this, the two women agreed to meet with the investigators although, at the moment, the date on which this meeting will take place is unknown. In turn, days ago his own Panzeri had accepted give information such as names and details of the financial arrangements of those involved in exchange for obtaining a reduction in their sentence.

(With information from AP and EFE)

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