Eva Kaili: Belgium asks Greece to freeze all her assets and accounts in Greece

The Anti-Money Laundering Authority is targeting MEP Eva Kaili, who is facing serious charges for the corruption and bribery scandal that has erupted in the European Parliament.

The arrest of the now former vice-president of the European Parliament for alleged bribery by the government of Qatar is not the only problem she faces with the authorities.

Read also: Qatar Gate: The possible penalties for those involved in the corruption scandal

According to information, the Belgian Authorities have submitted to the Greek Anti-Money Laundering Authority a request to freeze the assets and accounts of both the MEP herself, as well as her father and husband, with the honorary deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Charalambos Vourliotis, ordering their commitment

Mr. Vourliotis allegedly moved immediately after the developments in Belgium, in order to secure assets, which may come from illegal activities and are located in Greece.

The asset freeze has already been notified to the Greek credit institutions, as well as to the competent government agencies, and concerns both the detained MEP and her immediate relatives (parents, siblings, spouse).

It is recalled that a large amount of cash (150,000 euros) was found and confiscated in the house of the Greek MEP in bags and in a suitcase, an element that justified the automatic lifting of immunity as it was considered being caught while committing a crime.

As for Eva Kailis’ father, who was caught with a suitcase full of cash (600,000) leaving a Brussels hotel, he was released.

The investigation that revealed the 750,000 euros

The description of the operation by the Belgian authorities that led to the arrest of four people in relation to Qatargate, among which the vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, is described in an article by the newspaper Le Soir, picking up the thread from the dawn of December 9.

As stated in the publication, “a special police unit was secretly waiting outside the house of the Greek MEP, Eva Kaili, for Francesco Giorgi, her husband, the vice-president of the European Parliament, as due to Mrs. Kaili’s immunity, the house could not be raided”.

Explaining Giorgi’s role, the Belgian newspaper writes that “one of the heads of the NGO Fight Impunity,  is one of the main suspects in the anti-corruption operation that the prosecutors carried out that morning (December 9th). and had been carefully planning since mid-July.’

According to the publication, the file was handled by meticulous investigators and it is characteristic that the first minutes of the operation were not recorded in the national database of the Belgian police “in order to avoid any leaks”.

A crucial first step for members of Belgium’s anti-corruption task force (OCRC) led by financial prosecutor Michel Claise was to seize Giorgi’s mobile phone with those involved in the operation following him from the moment he left the house’s garage and finally to arrest him, “an arrest which was the beginning of a total of 16 investigations in Brussels and its surroundings” as Le Soir writes.

As part of the investigations, the houses of several assistants in the European Parliament, officials and above all the house in Brussels of the former MEP and president of the NGO, Fight Impunity, Antonio Panzeri, were checked.

According to the report, investigators found around 600,000 euros in cash as Mr Panzeri is considered the “brain” of the criminal organization “which is being investigated for funding from a foreign state – in this case Qatar – to influence with money and gifts policies and financial decisions of the European Parliament”.

That morning, the Belgian newspaper reports, in addition to Panzeri and Giorgi, two other people were high on the police’s list: the “boss” of the unions, Luca Visentini, who was elected to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); as well as a fourth person of Italian origin active in the NGO community, “Mr. T.”.”

“By noon the operation was already successful. Money had been discovered and several terabytes of digital data had been seized. At the same time, mobile phones and computers were confiscated, while several offices of assistants were sealed for further control” notes Le Soir and continues: “among them the offices of the assistants of the Belgian MEPs, Marie Arena and Marc Tarabella. The Arena’s line of defense claim was that her assistant worked for Pantseri’s NGO and thus explains the investigation by the authorities.

The next scene described by the Belgian newspaper is recorded outside the Sofitel hotel in Brussels with Eva’s father Mr. Kailis as the protagonist: “He and his wife were in Brussels for a few days. Francesco Giorgi’s father-in-law is holding an ordinary suitcase only filled with 50 euro notes. He was brought in by the police team”

The Belgian newspaper claims that after what happened outside the hotel with Ms. Kaili’s father, it was decided that the immunity enjoyed by the vice-president of the European Parliament did not apply. “It was immediately decided to mobilize a group of police officers who participated in the morning investigations of December 9. They were joined by the company’s chief financial prosecutor. The search at the home of one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament was not planned. And this was not the first surprise,” the article says.

Bags and backpacks with cash were found in Eva Kaili’s house. “We usually find these findings in searches of drug dealers’ houses,” a source told Le Soir. “The cash is in 20 and 50 euro notes. Police have not determined the exact amount as the money has been sent to laboratories for analysis. But from converging sources it appears with conservative estimates that approximately 600,000 euros were found in the suitcases of Eva Kaili’s father and 150,000 euros in cash at the house of the Greek MEP” the publication adds.