Belgian justice ordered, Thursday, December 22, the continued detention of Greek MEP Eva Kaili, charged this month in an investigation into corruption involving Qatar which has already cost her her post as vice-president of the European Parliament. .

The Brussels council chamber, before which the elected socialist appeared eleven days after the start of her imprisonment, refused the request for placement under an electronic bracelet and "extended the preventive detention by one month", announced the federal prosecutor's office in a press release.

The lawyers have 24 hours to appeal the decision, the prosecution said.

Eva Kaili denies any corruption

Eva Kaili denies any corruption, her advisers reaffirmed Thursday morning, who hoped to obtain a release accompanied by placement under an electronic bracelet, arguing in particular for her "active participation" in the investigation and the absence of risk of flight.

In this scandal which caused shock waves in the European Parliament and tensions between Qatar and the EU, Eva Kaili is one of a quartet of suspects imprisoned after an indictment for "belonging to a criminal organization", "money laundering". 'money' and 'corruption'.

On December 14, it had already been decided to keep Francesco Giorgi, companion of the Socialist MEP, and former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri in prison, who also appear as key figures in the file.

A fourth defendant, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, leader of an NGO, was granted placement under an electronic bracelet that day, but the measure was suspended, the federal prosecutor's office having appealed.

A hearing has been set for December 27, according to his lawyer.

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Former television news presenter, who became a controversial figure in the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) – which excluded her from the first revelations – Eva Kaili continues to deny having received money from Qatar to influence her political decisions. .

According to a Belgian judicial source, bags filled with banknotes worth 150,000 euros were discovered in his apartment in Brussels.

But Eva Kaili "did not know of the existence of this money", said her Greek lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, according to whom Francesco Giorgi would have "betrayed the trust" of his companion.

In Greece, a joint bank account of the couple was seized by justice, as well as a plot of 7,000 m2 on the island of Paros purchased through this account, we learned on Thursday from a judicial source. .

An investigation was opened last week by the Athens Financial Prosecutor's Office.

1.5 million euros in cash

In Belgium, the investigation led by the financial judge Michel Claise gave rise to twenty searches between December 9 and 12, including in the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Eva Kaili's father was kept in custody for 48 hours in the Belgian capital, while the wife and daughter of Pier Antonio Panzeri, targeted by a European arrest warrant, were arrested in Italy.

They challenged before the Italian courts their return to Belgium.

In total, Belgian investigators got their hands on 1.5 million euros in cash, according to the same judicial source.

In addition to the 150,000 euros discovered at Eva Kaili's house, her father was surprised with a suitcase containing 750,000 euros in cash.

Finally, 600,000 euros were seized from the home of Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former socialist elected member of the European Parliament who founded the NGO Fight Impunity in Brussels in 2019, whose three years of activity are now being scrutinized.

Diplomatic crisis with Qatar

Italian trade union leader Luca Visentini, who knows Pier Antonio Panzeri, admitted this week that he received a cash donation of around 50,000 euros from Fight Impunity, but he assured that he was not linked to any attempt at corruption or influence peddling for the benefit of Qatar.

Concerned in the investigation, Luca Visentini, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC, Ituc in English), was released under judicial supervision on December 11 after two days in police custody.

On Wednesday, he was "suspended" from his post by the ITUC's governing body.

On the diplomatic level, the scandal shakes the relationship between the EU and Qatar, which has warned of a possible "negative impact" on gas supplies.

The emirate, which "firmly rejects" the accusations, protested against a vote taken on December 15 in the European Parliament to suspend access "for representatives of Qatari interests" during the investigation.

With AFP

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