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Corruption… 25% of MEPs now implicated
Criminal complaint adds to Ursula von der Leyen’s Pfizer scandal … – POLITICO
One in four MEPs is investigated or prosecuted • According to an investigation carried out by the media in Belgium, 163 out of 704 MEPs are involved in 253 criminal cases
The European Parliament seems to have become a hotbed of criminals, as according to an investigation carried out by the Belgian dailies L’Echo and De Tijd, picked up by the Belgian website La Libre, it shows that almost one in four MEPs is being investigated or prosecuted criminal.
The international investigation on the integrity of European deputies has identified in the last four years 253 criminal cases targeting 163 MEPs out of the 704 members of the European Union Legislature.
EU corruption scandal: Eva Kaili released from prison and put under …
According to the cited sources, they are accused of committing several crimes such as workplace harassment, fraud, nepotism and corruption.
Of the 253 criminal files, 45 are instrumented for corruption, and of these, 29 cases refer to nepotism (a crime whereby the deputy uses his influence in favor of a relative) and 16 represent bribery.
The most well-known case of corruption at the level of the European Parliament is Qatargate, a scandal in which the governments of Morocco and Qatar allegedly paid large sums to European deputies to influence Parliament’s decisions regarding relations with the respective states.
We remind you that on December 10, 2022, Eva Kaili, then Vice-President of the European Parliament, former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and two other suspects were arrested by the Belgian authorities, being suspected of involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.
According to Belgian prosecutors, the suspects are accused of influencing decision-making in the European Parliament in favor of Qatar, the host of the soccer World Cup, in exchange for sums of money and gifts. During the search of Panzeri’s home, Belgian prosecutors found 600,000 euros.
According to the Belgian media, Panzieri would have received the respective money from Qatar and Morocco to support the interests of the two states in the European Parliament.
While the prospects for the case are as-yet unclear, the lodging of a criminal complaint against Commission President Ursula von der Leyen by 35-year-old Belgian lobbyist Frédéric Baldan over undisclosed text messages adds to the clamour of voices calling for greater transparency over how the EU’s COVID-19 vaccine contracts were negotiated.
Also on the same day, the Brussels prosecutors also detained Eva Kaila’s father, who allegedly was in possession of a suitcase containing a large sum of euros, an amount for which the former vice-president of the European Parliament, her father and her assistant Evei Kaili did not have any supporting documents.
In total, the Belgian investigators confiscated the sum of 1.5 million euros in cash, found at the residences of Panzeri and Kaili, as well as in the suitcase that the father of the MEP from Greece had on him.
The case has been in the hands of Belgian prosecutors for over a year, and so far no sentencing decision has been taken by the Brussels courts.
46 files refer to harassment, especially sexual harassment, which has become, according to the cited sources, a real criminal phenomenon within the European institutions.
The journalistic investigation carried out by the cited sources identified 46 cases of alleged indecent behavior at work, behavior of which 37 MEPs would be guilty. Fraud or embezzlement of granted funds are the main charges in 44 criminal cases.
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Corruption
25% of MEPs now implicated
Brussels is the closest thing to Sodom and Gomorrah. A few months before the European elections, an unprecedented count reveals the extent to which MEPs are involved in files of corruption, embezzlement, sexual harassment and all kinds of violations of those laws they claim to defend.
When the Qatargate scandal broke on December 9, 2022, the very foundations of European institutions were shaken. Eva Kaili, the Greek vice-president of the European Parliament, was detained, along with four current and former members of parliament, suspected of having received bribes from Morocco and Qatar, in exchange for political support.
More than 800,000 euros in cash were discovered in Kaili’s house. There were viral images of wads of cash piled up in a safe and even in plastic bags.
Many then fell flat: the European Parliament is not what it seems. Their deputies sell themselves for a plate of slow things and put themselves at the service of any foreign satrap.
An investigation led by investigative journalism platform Follow The Money and carried out by a consortium of 24 European media outlets reveals that almost a quarter of the 704 MEPs currently in office have been involved in some breach of the law.
A total of 163 MEPs participated in the 253 cases identified and verified, the vast majority of which referred to acts that occurred during the current legislature (2019-2024), either in their country or in the context of their mandate as an MEP. The cases have varying degrees of seriousness and cover a wide spectrum, from the sale of a stolen mobile phone to the embezzlement of European public funds and even conspiracy to commit murder.
This record figure is unprecedented at European level and includes three types of scandals that affect issues of great public interest: 45 of the cases have been related to corruption and, in particular, to blatant bribery (sixteen cases reported); 44 linked to fraud, embezzlement or theft of resources; and 46 to sexual assault, a problem whose magnitude is not sufficiently reported.
The figures are the result of a meticulous country-by-country statistical compilation of cases involving the 704 MEPs currently active. To this we must add the cases to which MEPs have been linked throughout their careers, whether in the private or public sphere.
The results of the investigation are only the tip of the iceberg because not all scandals are publicly reported and crimes and misdemeanors are not prosecuted or punished in the same way in one country as in another.
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The Free 