Kaili, the track of the accounts in Panama appears: «Hunting for twenty million transferred from Qatar»

BRUSSELS – What is certain is that Greece’s Anti-Money Laundering Department has asked Panama to verify whether there are transfers of money from Qatar to the bank accounts of Eva Kaili and her family members, after Greek social media replicated like wildfire post according to which the former vice president of the European Parliament hid 20 million euros in the Central American country. Eva Kaili’s defender calls them slander, while MEP Andrea Cozzolino is ready to give up immunity.

The request of President of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority Charalampos Vourliotis, who had already frozen the assets of the Kaili family, dates back to December 29 when news began to circulate that 20 million euros had flowed into the Bladex bank in Panama on two accounts in the name of Eva Kaili, arrested on 9 December in the investigation into alleged interference by Qatar and Morocco in the European Parliament, while her father Alexandros and his mother Maria Ignatiadou had arrived at other accounts 4 million each. The money came from Doha, the posts said. The existence of the accounts had already been denied on December 21 by Bladex which had defined the information as false given that in the bank, which provides services only to other banks or important companies, there are no funds attributable directly or indirectly to persons involved in the investigation. The falsity of these hypothetical wire transfers proved beyond any doubt, had exaggerated Kaili’s lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos.

After his and his father’s arrest in the act of committing a crime, who was leaving with 600,000 euros in cash, the Greek MEP from Pasok cannot count on immunity until the request for trial. Instead, the federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels had to ask Parliament to remove the protection for Campania deputy Andrea Cozzolino, suspended from the Democratic Party, and for his Italian-Belgian colleague from the S&D group Marc Tarabella, involved in the investigation for criminal association, corruption and recycling.

Tarabella said on Monday that he was giving up immunity, now Cozzolino is preparing to do the same after a long meeting via Zoom with lawyers Federico Conte, Dezio Ferraro and Dimitri De Beco. Cozzolino remained in Naples where the not unexpected news of the request from the judiciary reached him. It was no coincidence that on 21 December he had surprisingly asked to be heard by the magistrates to help ascertain the truth, waiving the guarantees of parliamentary immunity for this purpose, in an announcement that in fact foreshadowed the future decision. And today, continuing on that line, he should also ask to be heard by the Legal Affairs Commission (Juri) of the Eurochamber who will take care of the case from 16 January. In that session, Cozzolino should reiterate his intention not to avail himself of immunity, even if the regulation of the European Parliament does not grant the individual MEP the right to renounce, the revocation of which must be discussed and then decided by the Assembly. Even if everything suggests that the revocation will take place even in a short time, given the preferential lane announced by the president Roberta Metsola.

In the Qatargate affair, Cozzolino’s name was highlighted by the federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels and by the investigating judge Michel Claise. With his assistant Francesco Giorgi and Antonio Panzeri, the former powerful councilor from Campania would be part of the team capable of influencing the political orientation of Socialists & Democrats in favor of Qatar and Morocco. The documents mention links between Cozzolino and the secret services of Morocco, also through the ambassador of Rabat in Poland Abderrahim Atmoun from whom he allegedly received, Claise claims, orders that came from Yassine Mansouri, the head of the Dedg agency whom he also allegedly met personally. I have done nothing, unacceptable, the MEP has always repeated. The times for presenting himself to the judges or being summoned are not predictable. I have the utmost confidence in the Belgian judiciary, she says with a formula that is also in a mannered way.

Yesterday, postponement to 16 January in Appeal in Brescia of the hearing on delivery to Belgium of Maria Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri, wife and daughter of the president of the NGO Fight impunity arrested because he is considered the hub of pro-Qatar and Morocco machinations. The information requested by the judges did not arrive from Brussels after the lawyers Angelo De Riso and Nicola Colli, defenders of the two women (under house arrest), raised doubts about the living conditions in Belgian prisons.