Husband of EU vice-president Eva Kaili ‘admits role in Qatar bribery scandal’

Giorgi, 35, has told prosecutors, according to Le Soir newspaper, that it was his job to manage cash payments to MEPs, naming two European deputies, an Italian and Belgian, who he claims took bribes.

The money was allegedly to be used to extend Qatar’s influence before EU decisions on visa liberalisation and an aviation deal last year. Kaili, 44, has previously denied that the money was meant for bribes and instead insisted that the EU’s relationship with Qatar was growing closer because Europe was trying to move away from dependency on Russian energy, and wanted to seek new gas or oil supplies from Gulf states.

Police seized over €1.5 million in banknotes during raids last weekend, with €600,000 also seized in the house of Pier Antonio Panzeri, 67, a former Italian centre-left MEP and president of an influential NGO.

Cash totalling over €900,000 was found in raids on the home of Kaili and Giorgi and a Sofitel room used by Kaili’s father, Alexandros Kailis

AFP/POLICE JUDICIAIRE FEDERALE

Panzeri, along with his wife and daughter, is alleged to have benefited financially from money sent by a senior Moroccan diplomat, and is accused of passing on cash to MEPs. Panzeri’s wife and daughter have been extradited to Belgium from Italy and the family has denied any wrongdoing. The diplomat has yet to comment on the claims.

The investigation began in the murky world of international spies and clandestine operations by the Belgian intelligence agency looking for evidence of “foreign interference” in EU decision-making.

Belgian agents secretly broke into the home of Panzeri in July, using so-called “special intelligence methods” known as BIMs by the security services, where they found €700,000 in cash.

The money was left in place, all break-in traces removed and a dossier passed to a Brussels investigating judge Michel Claise and the investigators of Belgium’s Central Anti-Corruption Service.

“It was a game-changer that state security has been working on for more than a year, together with foreign intelligence services, to map suspected bribery of MEPs by various countries,” said Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Belgian justice minister.

The secret operation last year also involved Belgian spies working with secret services in five other countries, thought to include Greece and Italy.

While the secret services are not allowed to investigate political parties or elected officials, such as MEPs, they can begin operations if there is a suspicion of foreign agencies working in Belgium.

The investigation followed longstanding concerns over Morocco’s foreign intelligence service, the DGED — Directorate General of Studies and Documentation — running networks to allegedly influence European politicians.

The key figures under suspicion emerged as Panzeri, who is president of an influential human rights NGO called Fight Impunity and the Moroccan diplomat, who it is claimed acted as a possible spymaster.

Yesterday MEPs voted to strip Kaili of her office as vice-president of the parliament before any judicial hearings on the charges against her.

In a further response to the scandal, MEPs today voted to block all legislative work concerning Qatar, delaying visa liberalisation deal and to ban Qatari officials or business lobbyists from the EU assembly.

“As an immediate measure, MEPs have decided to suspend all work on legislative files relating to Qatar, particularly concerning visa liberalisation, as well as planned visits, until things become clearer,” said a statement following the vote, which passed 541 in favour, with two against.

“They also ask that security passes for representatives of Qatari interests be suspended until the judicial investigations provide clarity.”

A final decision on applying an access ban has to be taken by the parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola.

Giorgi’s allegation that he ran a payments operation for Panzeri is a potential breakthrough and may explain why his wife did not appear at a remand hearing yesterday, which her lawyers applied to postpone until next week.

Giorgi worked as a parliamentary aide to an Italian MEP, Andrea Cozzolino, and has accused him of taking payments as well as a Belgian deputy Marc Tarabella.

Tarabella’s house was searched at the weekend by police but he was released. Both MEPs deny wrongdoing.

Georgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, arrived for the Brussels meeting today urging Brussels to put its house in order to avoid the scandal damaging the EU.

“What is important now is the reaction, which must be serious and decisive, and on which depends the credibility of the union,” she said. “Italy will ask to shed full light on what is happening.”

President Macron defended his trip to Qatar yesterday to watch France’s World Cup semi-final triumph over Morocco and said that the EU needed to wait until the “full facts” of the investigation emerged.

Metsola updated EU leaders on the situation and admitted a problem with “foreign actors that seek to undermine us”. She added: “My message will be that there will be no impunity, there will be no sweeping under the carpet, there will be no business as usual.”

“There are too many ways that decisions are taken that could be done better. Too many informal groupings that are potentially more amenable to influence. Too many organisations whose transparency of funding is not clear.”

The European parliament will now set up a special committee to investigate cases of corruption by countries outside the EU and another body to introduce new restrictions on influence peddling.

Measures will include a demand for an EU-level ban on donations from outside the EU to MEPs and political parties as well as mandatory register for foreign lobbyists and former MEPs.

Another new transparency measure will be compulsory filing of asset declarations at the beginning and end of an MEP’s time in office so it can be seen if they enriched themselves.

The parliament has renewed a demand on the European Commission to set up an independent ethics body overseeing the work of EU institutions.

A rare sighting was offered to the subjects of King Mohammed VI of Morocco last week when he appeared among revelling fans in the streets of Rabat after his country’s surprise World Cup round of 16 victory over Spain (Isambard Wilkinson writes).

The bribery scandal rocking the EU gives a similarly rare glimpse behind the walls of Morocco’s royal palaces, from where the king, court and security forces — collectively the makhzen — hold sway. Francesco Giorgi, husband of the European parliament’s vice-president, Eva Kaili, has confessed to his role in a bribery network set up by Moroccan intelligence, and to working for Qatar. The Belgian investigation began with longstanding concerns over Morocco’s foreign intelligence service, the DGED, running networks in Europe. It includes allegations of payments by Morocco, whose government has not responded to requests for comment.

Western intelligence services are no strangers to its capabilities. Indeed, they have often turned to Morocco for help to combat Islamist terrorism, most notably after the Madrid bombings of 2004 and the Paris attacks of 2015. The idea that Morocco uses its security services to press its interests in the EU would not raise many diplomatic eyebrows.

Rabat has used migration to Europe as a bartering tool to extract funds from EU coffers and has grown in confidence since it persuaded the Trump government to recognise its claim to the territory of Western Sahara in return for it normalising relations with Israel. Morocco angered Saudi Arabia by refusing to join its blockade on Qatar in 2017, in effect siding with Qatar while claiming it was neutral in the crisis.

On ascending to the throne in 1999, Mohammed framed himself as a reformer, but since the Arab Spring the makhzen has tightened its grip.