New steps in so-called conspiracy investigation Qatar gateBribery and buying favors case uncovered in early December It included Qatar and Morocco and it totally jumped European Parliament. The trial judge, Michel Claiseordered a search of a safe-deposit box belonging to the Belgian Member of the European Parliament in Liège this Friday. Marc TarabellaThere are also “some offices” in the town hall of Anthisnes, where Tarabella is mayor, after the European Parliament withdrew her parliamentary immunity earlier in the month following a request by Belgian justice.
“In the framework of a file of the federal prosecutor’s office on suspicions chaired by the Brussels investigating judge corruption open to the public, several recordings were made this morning. The first targeted a bank vault in Liège belonging to MT, a member of the European Parliament. Some offices of the town hall of Anthisnes were also searched.”
Before 8 am, the judicial police went to Tarabella’s home in Anthisnes, where she was wanted in the presence of the President of the European Parliament on 11 December, to arrest her, take her to Brussels and interrogate her in the context of the case. default bribe. In the same statement, the prosecutor’s office said, “He will decide in the next few hours whether he will appear before the investigating judge.”
Tarabella claims to be innocent
Since the scandal erupted and her name was revealed in the course of the investigation, Tarabella has claimed her innocence and denied receiving money or gifts from Qatar or any other country to influence the decisions and positions of the European Parliament. But the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy, according to the Belgian newspaper L’Echo, Pier Antonio PanzeriHe would declare to investigators that he had made various payments to Tarabella between 120,000 and 140,000 euros to help with the Qatari files, accepting his penitent status to reduce his future sentence.
Currently, they are still in detention on charges of corruption and involvement. criminal organization And money laundering former MEP Panzer, former Vice-President of the European Parliament and MEP of Greece, Eva Kaillyand your partner Francesco GiorgioHe fulfills the same duties as the Italian socialist Member of the European Parliament Andrea Cozzolino, who was the deputy of Panzeri in the past and whose parliamentary immunity was lifted by the European Parliament on February 2nd. But last week, Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, the fourth person in prison since December, was released on parole.