MoroccoGate MEP will be allowed to return to work
It would seem that MEPs are allowed to keep 100s of thousands of euros of cash in suitcases in their lush Brussels apartments and still avoid prosecution from the Belgian authorities who are conducting a graft probe which some are calling MoroccoGate.
In December 2022, a scandal reputed in the Belgian capital after Belgian secret service officers discovered around 1.5 million euros in cash in a number of apartments rented by socialists MEPs from more than one country.
At the centre of the story, emerged an attractive figure – a Greek MEP – who it would appear was holding onto a lot of cash herself while using some of it to pay off the financing of a second property.
The Greek MEP, Eva Kaili, was arrested on the accusation that she is “the primary organizer or co-organizer of public corruption, money laundering,” according to the Belgian warrant issued on December 9.
Shortly after the first arrests were made in the Qatargate probe, Belgian authorities announced they had recovered about €1.5 million in cash from the key suspects.
That includes €150,000 found at Kaili’s apartment and another €150,000 that was found in a suitcase her father was carrying at the Brussels Sofitel hotel. The arrest warrant also mentions some €700,000 found in the house of Antonio Panzeri – a former MEP-turned-lobbyist who played a key role in helping Qatar whitewash its human rights record, as he had done for well over a decade before for Morocco, which rewarded him with gifts, payments and luxury hotels.
But now, Maghrebi has learnt, that the Belgian authorities are struggling to make any graft charges stick to Kaili who spent some time in jail before allowing to move out and respect house arrest conditions with an electronic bracelet. Currently, Kaili is still restricted to not leaving Belgium but, according to reputable reports, her bracelet has been removed and she wishes to return to her work in the European parliament as soon as possible. Given that no sold charges so far have been leveled to her and no indications from the authorities that they have a case pending, it is likely she will return to her post soon, with even the technical barrier to her travelling to Strasbourg in France for plenary sessions soon to be revoked.
It is not expected though that Kaili will be given her prestigious job back in the European parliament, as Vice President, but will continue to work as a Greek socialist MEP.
