- Europe All those accused of QatarGate leave prison for house arrest
The former vice president of the European Parliament accused in the bribery scheme linked to Qatar and Morocco, Eva Kaili, arrived on Friday at her home near the headquarters of the European Parliament to fulfill her house arrest with electronic bracelet after leaving prison.
The Greek politician arrived at her home after 11 a.m. on Friday in a black Mercedes and rolled down the window with a smile to say she was "very happy" to be near her almost two-year-old daughter again, who was waiting for her in the apartment.
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The struggle continues with determination together with my lawyers. We'll talk soon," he said before entering the building.
The justice agreed last Wednesday that the Greek MEP change her regime of preventive detention in prison for a house arrest with electronic bracelet and her lawyer, Sven Mary, advanced that this step would be effective possibly this Friday, as it has happened.
The former Italian Social Democratic MEP and alleged ringleader of the plot, Pier Antonio Panzeri, also got the electronic bracelet regime eight days ago, while Kailí's partner and former assistant of Panzeri, Francesco Giorgi, achieved it on February 23, and the Belgian socialist MEP involved, Marc Tarabella, was in the same situation last Tuesday.
Panzeri and Giorgi, like Kailí, had been arrested in several raids in Belgium on December 9, 2022, while Tarabella was not arrested until February for enjoying parliamentary immunity until then.
Despite also enjoying parliamentary immunity, Kailí was arrested on the night of the bribery scandal in December and subsequently charged with alleged corruption and money laundering offences because the authorities considered her to be committing a flagrant offence.
Investigators found hundreds of thousands of euros in cash in his home and in a suitcase with which his father was caught fleeing a hotel in the Belgian capital.
The Greek Social Democratic politician had repeatedly requested her release and had denounced humiliating treatment in prison, particularly in a few days in January in which she was held incommunicado while, according to her defense, the Prosecutor's Office agreed with Panzeri, 67.
The alleged "mastermind" of the corrupt scheme agreed to collaborate with the Justice as a "repentant" to obtain a reduction of the future sentence, in exchange for his confession and to point out others involved and explain the operation of the plot.
In addition, another Italian Social Democrat MEP whose parliamentary immunity was also withdrawn so that justice could investigate him, Andrea Cozzolino, is under house arrest in Naples, in a situation similar to that of Panzeri's accountant, Monica Rossana Bellini.
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