Former Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, the main defendant in Belgium for the plot of alleged bribes paid by Qatar, will provide details about the ‘modus operandi’, the countries involved and the names of those who succumbed to the corruption of the Belgian Justice, by virtue of a agreement reached by his lawyers and the federal prosecutor’s office in exchange for reducing his sentence.
“It is about the commitment on the part of the repentant to offer substantial, revealing, sincere and complete statements about the participation of third parties and, where appropriate, their own participation in the crimes that are the subject of the case,” the Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported.
The terms of the agreement between the two parties imply that the sanction applied to Panzeri will be “effective but limited”, although the confessor will not avoid “firm imprisonment, a fine and the confiscation of all acquired patrimonial benefits”, the statement specifies. , which estimates these advantages at least one million euros.
The “memorandum” signed by Panzeri, accompanied by his lawyers, and by the federal prosecutor states that the former MEP must inform both the investigators and the Belgian Justice of key issues such as the ‘modus operandi’, financial agreements with third-party States and the financial architecture implemented.
The repentant also undertakes to provide information on the “beneficiaries of the structures created and the advantages offered” and the “involvement of people already known or not yet” in the framework of the investigation, including the names of people whom Panzeri confess to having corrupted.
This is the second time in Belgian judicial history that an agreement of this type has been closed with a “repentant”, as specified by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
Panzeri was indicted on December 10, accused of being the head of a criminal organization and participating in money laundering activities and active and passive public corruption.
In the framework of the same investigation that, according to the Belgian media, points to the payment of bribes by Qatar and Morocco to gain weight in the EU through MEPs, three other people have been charged so far, including the Greek socialist Eva Kaili, vice president of the European Parliament dismissed after the scandal, and her partner and parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi.
This same week, in addition, the European Parliament launches the formal procedure to process the request of the Belgian Justice to suspend the immunity of two other Socialist MEPs, the Italian Andrea Cozzolino and the Belgian Marc Tarabella, so that they can be investigated for the same cause .