Pierre Antonio Panziri, a former member of the European Parliament and the main suspect in the corruption scandal known as the “Qatargate”, concluded an agreement on Tuesday with the Belgian Public Prosecution Office stipulating his cooperation with investigators in return for a reduced sentence.
Pierre Antonio Panziri, a former member of the European Parliament and the main suspect in the corruption scandal known as the “Qatargate”, concluded an agreement on Tuesday with the Belgian Public Prosecution Office stipulating his cooperation with investigators in return for a reduced sentence.
The prosecution said in a statement that “through this memorandum” Panziri “undertakes to inform the investigators and justice in particular… of the financial arrangements with third countries, the financial structures established, and the beneficiaries” of this supposed criminal scheme.
It added that his statements are expected to be “substantial, revealing, truthful and complete” regarding his involvement in the alleged facts and those of other parties.
Disclosure of the identity of persons involved in corruption
Suspicions of corruption in favor of Qatar have been rocking the European Parliament for a month.
Panziri, 67, will have to inform investigators of “the involvement of known or unknown persons in the file so far, including the identity of the persons he admits to being involved in corruption”.
In exchange for this cooperation permitted in Belgium by the law enacted in 2018, “the punishment that Panziri receives will be effective, but limited. It will include imprisonment, a fine and confiscation of all acquired property, which is currently valued at one million euros.”
The former Italian European deputy, who became director of a Brussels-based non-governmental organization in 2019, had appealed the decision to continue his detention in mid-December, and was scheduled to appear on Tuesday morning before an appeals court.
But the Belgian prosecutor said earlier on Tuesday that “for reasons of his own, he decided today to drop his appeal before the indictment chamber. Therefore, he did not appear.”
Charges of “belonging to a criminal organization,” “money laundering,” and “corruption.”
Pierre Antonio Panziri was arrested in Brussels on December 9, in parallel with the arrest of the Greek representative in the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, and her companion, the Italian parliamentary assistant, Francesco Georgi.
All of them, as well as Niccolò Vega Talamanca, an Italian NGO official who is also behind bars, have been charged with “belonging to a criminal organization”, “money laundering” and “corruption”.
They are suspected of obtaining large sums of cash from Qatar to influence it within the EU’s only elected institution, particularly with regard to its record on workers’ rights.
Panziri had been under the surveillance of the Belgian intelligence services for at least a year. According to the press, he also received money from Morocco to support his interests in the European Parliament.
Both Qatar and Morocco have strongly denied these accusations.
