The corruption affair in the EU Parliament. Since Friday, Belgian law enforcement has arrested six suspects, two of whom have since been released. EU politician Eva Kaili, who is at the center of corruption investigations, says the huge amount of cash in her Brussels apartment does not belong to her or her partner but to a third party. Meanwhile, in house searches of several defendants, Belgian police in the Brussels region have seized nearly 1.5 million euros.
According to Kaili’s lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, she asked her partner, Francesco Giorgi, who was also arrested, what the funds were, the lawyer said. The latter would have replied that the money belonged to someone else. Kaili had said she did not allow money that belonged to someone else to be kept in the joint apartment. Therefore, Kaili’s father took the money bag and left for a hotel where the recipient should have appeared. To whom the sums should have belonged, the lawyer did not say.
Francesco Giorgi is said to have already confessed to taking bribes, according to various newspaper reports. Rumors are circulating on Twitter that Kaili is said to have spilled the beans about the EU Parliament’s corruption practices. Lots of rumors and few facts.
Initially, a decision on whether to continue Kaili’s pre-trial detention was to be made yesterday. However, the date was postponed to next week Thursday, the Belgian prosecutor’s office announced. Kaili will, therefore now, remain in prison for the time being.
