Former Vice-President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili – one of the key figures implicated in the Qatargate corruption scandal – has been granted permission to travel to Strasbourg this week to attend a plenary session of the European Parliament.
The trip will be the first time the 44-year-old Greek MEP (S&D) has travelled outside of Belgium since her arrest on 9 December last year.
"Brussels Judicial Council decided, with the agreement of the investigating magistrate Michel Claise and the federal magistrate Raphaël Malagnini, that Kaili is allowed to travel to Strasbourg only to carry out her duties," Kaili's lawyers Sven Mary and Michalis Dimitrakopoulos said on Sunday, in remarks that were first reported by Politico.
They added: "She is not allowed to go elsewhere in France for any other purpose without the permission of the investigating magistrate."
A Greek tragedy?
Kaili, who was released from house arrest late last month, is alleged to have accepted bribes and other favours from the Qatari and Moroccan Governments in exchange for her support for pro-Qatari and pro-Moroccan legislation. She denies any involvement in the scandal.
Upon her arrest in December last year, federal investigators discovered €150,000 in cash at Kaili's Brussels apartment. A further €600,000 was found in a suitcase carried by Kaili's father as he was leaving a luxury hotel in central Brussels.
Following the revelations, Kaili was stripped of her position as Vice-President and expelled from her centre-left parliamentary group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).
Kaili's partner, Francesco Giorgi, with whom Kaili has a young child, has already confessed to accepting bribes, although he denies that Kaili is guilty of any wrongdoing.
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In addition to his links to Kaili, Giorgi is a close associate of two other key figures implicated in the scandal. At the time of his arrest with Kaili on 9 December, Giorgi was working as a parliamentary assistant to Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino (S&D), who has since been placed under house arrest in Italy.
Giorgi also previously worked as an advisor to Italian former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri (S&D) who, like Giorgi, has already confessed to accepting bribes and implicated other prominent European officials in the scandal, including Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D).
In an interview with Corriere della Sera published earlier this month, Kaili suggested that Panzeri's confession was "obtained under threat," and vehemently denounced the interrogation techniques used by the Belgian authorities.
"I did not receive money," Kaili said. "I think Panzeri's repentance and confessions were obtained under threat. The message was clear: if you name names, we offer you a deal and release your wife and daughter from prison. They are methods not worthy of the rule of law. They did the same to me."
