Francesco Giorgi acknowledged his prominent role in the corruption scheme, but called for the immediate release of the former vice-president of the European Parliament. Metsola has announced a reform to detect more cases.
Almost a week after his arrest, along with his companion Eva Kaili, now a former vice-president of the European Parliament (EP), Francesco Giorgi admitted to the Belgian authorities that he was involved in a corruption scheme aimed at influencing the decisions of the European Parliament. public body in favor of Qatar and Morocco. An Italian who works as an aide to a parliamentarian in Brussels took part in the network, which is known to involve more than 1.5 million euros. However, during an audience on Wednesday at the Palace of Justice, he asked to let go of his girlfriend, from whom he has a daughter.
“I did it for the money, not because I had to,” Giorgi justified himself, pointing to former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri as the mastermind behind the scheme, in whose house 600,000 euros were found. Giorgi apologized to his companion in line with what Kylie’s lawyer defended, despite the fact that 150 thousand euros were found in the couple’s common room, promising to do “everything possible” so that the former Greek TV star is released and can “take care” of 22 month old daughter.
In addition to Francesco Giorgi, Eva Kaili and Antonio Panzeri, Alexandros Kailis, the father of the former leader of Brussels, is also under investigation for involvement in Cathargate, as he had a suitcase with an estimated 650,000 euros. However, Kylie’s boyfriend, according to Le Soir and La Repubblica, who had access to court documents, is implicated in the case of two more MEPs, indicating that the investigation may be far from over.
Giorgi, one of the members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Sem Paz Sem Justiça, led by the Italian Niccolò Figa-Talamanca, will be primarily responsible for collecting bribes in exchange for benefits for the countries involved in the scheme, which will include, among other things, the cleansing the image of a Middle Eastern state in the European Union (EU). However, he also named Andrea Cozzolino, head of the European Parliament’s Maghreb Delegation, and Marc Tarabella as the two main figures in the corruption network.
Speaking to authorities, the Italian explained that he made payments to an organization that Qatar used to bribe MEPs and parliamentary aides in order to gain political and economic advantages in the public bloc.
Qatar Travel and tickets for the 2022 World Cup
An example of a Qatari lobby, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola emphasized yesterday, was offers of travel to parliamentarians, as well as the delivery of tickets so that they could attend the 2022 World Cup games, for several positions in the European Parliament, suggesting that she was also invited to attend the football championship, but she refused. because she had “concerns about this country”, citing alleged human rights violations committed as part of a sporting event.
To avoid a recurrence of cases like this, Metsola assured that “there will be no impunity” by committing, together with EU leaders, to outline an anti-corruption reform to be introduced early next year.
“The information we have received from the Belgian authorities indicates that there are serious suspicions about people associated with autocratic governments who practice influence peddling in a way that we suspect is aimed at subduing our processes,” he said.
Metsola has pledged to implement proposals that include “banning all informal friendship groups” that are sometimes sponsored by lobbying middlemen and foreign governments. Another of the measures to be discussed should be to prevent representatives of third countries from entering the premises of the European Assembly, especially in relation to the Qatari authorities.
