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Antonio Panzeri wants to get his head out of the noose. His strategy: he betrays his accomplices.
Now he wants to unpack to save his own skin. Antonio Panzeri (67), a former MEP, is considered the mastermind behind the corruption scandal surrounding the EU Parliament. On behalf of Qatar and Morocco, his NGO is said to have tried to manipulate decisions in the EU Parliament. Among other things, it is said to have been about the World Cup in Qatar.
Panzeri has been in custody in Belgium since December 9 – together with the ex-vice president of the EU Parliament Eva Kaili (44). According to Belgian judicial circles, 150,000 euros were found in their apartment during searches, and another 750,000 euros on Kaili’s father.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that Panzeri now wants to betray his accomplices so that he can get off with a lighter sentence. According to the report, the 67-year-old is said to have named several EU parliamentarians who are also said to be involved in the corruption scandal.
Panzeri was part of the social democratic Partito Democratico for years. In 2017 he left the party in favor of Articolo Uno, the party of former Italian communist leader Massimo D’Alema (73). In the EU Parliament, however, he remained part of the transnational social democratic group, into whose networks the money is said to have flowed primarily.
“Like Ocean’s Eleven”
According to “La Repubblica”, Panzeri’s accomplices include the Italian Andrea Cozzolino (60). He is referred to as a key figure. The Partito Democratico suspended Cozzolino on Friday.
In addition, Panzeri has apparently pilloried two social democratic MPs from Belgium: Marc Tarabella (59) and Maria Arena (56). According to “La Repubblica”, he said about Arena: “I know that she once traveled to Qatar and received a gift.”
The investigations into alleged corruption, money laundering and influence from the Gulf Emirate of Qatar in the EU Parliament have been going on for months. Panzeri’s NGO Fight Impunity, which he founded in 2019, is the focus of Belgian investigators.
On Tuesday, the Italian union official Luca Visentini (53) admitted to having received a donation of “less than 50,000 euros” from “Fight Impunity”, reports “La Repubblica”. Panzeri is said to have said while the money was being handed over: “We look like the ones in Ocean’s Eleven.” Adapted from the popular 2001 crime comedy.
Visentini justifies himself: No conditions are said to have been attached to the money donation. Its sole purpose: to have covered the cost of his campaign at the International Congress of Trade Unions in Australia.
It is still unclear whether other names associated with Panzeri’s NGO are on the investigators’ list. However, there are still familiar faces: the board of the NGO includes former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (49) and France’s former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve (59). “You have to be perverted to do something like this with an NGO,” said Cazerneuve after the allegations were announced and submitted his resignation from the organization. (bab)