A total of more than €1.5m in cash was found during searches of former European Parliament vice-president Eva Kylie and former MEP Antonio Panzeri, Le Soir reports. According to the newspaper, about 600 thousand were found at Panzeri’s home and the rest at Kylie’s, her life partner and her father, who had come to Brussels to visit his daughter with a suitcase full of banknotes.
More than €1.5 million in cash was recovered from the bodies of former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri and former Greek vice-president Eva Kaili, both implicated in a major corruption scandal, Belgian Le Soir reported after receiving photographs of the seized money.
During a search of Antonio Panzeri’s residence in Brussels, Belgian Federal Criminal Police investigators found approximately €600,000 in cash, according to the story. Including the cash, which was discovered at Eva Kailly’s Brussels address, as well as at the homes of her father and her life partner Francesco Giorgi, more than €1.5 million in cash were seized – triggering a major anti-corruption investigation inside the European Parliament, the article said.
According to Le Soir, Ms Kylie’s lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos said on Tuesday that his client had not received any bribes from the Qatari authorities.
“My client’s position is that she is innocent,” the lawyer told a TV channel. – She has nothing to do with the Qatari bribes.”
The lawyer, however, could not answer the question of whether his client and her father, who had come to Brussels to visit his daughter, had indeed been found in possession of large sums of cash.
As Le Soir journalists recall, Ms Kylie’s father was detained by investigators at the Sofitel hotel in Brussels. The man had a suitcase full of banknotes with him. Thanks to this “red-handedness”, investigators were able to obtain a search warrant for Kylie’s residence without initiating proceedings to deprive her of her immunity as a deputy. There, the investigation team found even more cash, as well as “valuables” allegedly given to the former MEP by Qatari officials.
On Sunday, it was revealed that Panzeri, Kylie and Georgie had been formally charged, after which all three were taken into custody, Le Soir writes. They, as well as a fourth man detained in the same case, will appear in court on Wednesday to determine whether they will remain in custody as a preventive measure.
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