The Belgian judicial police, in one of those characteristic operations that nobody outside the country understands but generates a lot of commotion, has searched this Tuesday the offices of two MEPs, the Belgian Marc Tarabella and the Italian Andrea Cozzolino, in the framework of the investigation of the case known as Qatargate. The process began in December of last year and led to the arrest of half a dozen people, including present and past deputies, lobbyists, all linked to the Socialists and in one way or another to Italy. And to raids not only in the offices of Brussels or Strasbourg, but in some homes. But what happened now is difficult to explain.
Tarabella and Cozzolino are not new names in the summary. They have been part of the investigation, they have been interrogated, imprisoned and months ago even the agents went in search of cash and evidence at the Belgian’s home, something famous because the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, had to bring forward her return to the country from Malta to be present, as the local Constitution requires it to guarantee the rights of active politicians. Others investigated or accused put law enforcement on their trail, so it’s obvious they were on the radar (Panzeri claims he gave her between 120,000 and 140,000 euros as a reward for her complaisance toward Qatar). But what is incomprehensible is looking for evidence in an office seven months after sealing it.
“It’s incredible,” laments Maxim Toller, Tarabella’s lawyer in statements collected by Reuters, that it is the first time he has gone to his client’s office, months after he was accused of corruption. “My client requested that his office be searched as part of the investigation because he is innocent.”
Tarabella has spent months in prison and under house arrest, and resumed his daily schedule in the Eurochamber a few weeks ago after being released on parole. Former Vice President Eva Kaili, the last to be released and who no longer has even an electronic bracelet after also spending five months in jail, has indicated that she intends to do the same very soon.
Cozzolino, on the other hand, is detained in Italy and continues to fight not to be handed over to the Belgian authorities, who have requested his extradition. He was going to be arrested the same day as his colleague, on February 10, but investigators found his apartment in Brussels empty, since the Neapolitan was in his hometown to receive medical treatment. Since then, he has opposed his transfer and has already appealed to the Italian Court of Cassation. The kingpin of the corruption plot, in his confession, has also said that he sent him money, from Morocco and Qatar, in exchange for his votes, favors and statements in Parliament. Both have always denied his guilt.
After unleashing an unprecedented scandal in the European institutions, Qatargate is in a very confusing phase. All those involved in the summary are out of prison or house arrest except for the aforementioned Cozzolino and the leader of the plot, Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who, however, has admitted his guilt and negotiated a sentence reduction agreement in exchange for his confession. within the framework of repentance of the anti-mafia legislation.
All the pressure is now on magistrate Michel Claise, a well-known, respected figure with a reputation for being ruthless and incorruptible, and yet he is receiving harsh criticism for the use or abuse of pretrial detention. The legal teams of many of the defendants have lamented that although their clients had offered to collaborate in the investigation without problems as soon as their names were splashed, the magistrate chose not to lift a finger until he had an arrest warrant. Dramatizing, they say, the process. Or abusing his prerogatives to pressure, as denounced by many of Kaili’s lawyers.
She, who as part of her new defense strategy has given interviews (including to this newspaper) and who assures that the reason for everything is her work in a spy commission, was deprived of liberty and kept in a cell, without seeing anyone. her baby, even though the confessed leader of the plot had confessed. Or that the deputy’s own husband, also arrested on the same day in December and who allegedly confessed to several crimes, were already at home.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project