A preliminary investigation judge
(GIP) in Bergamo on Friday seized some 240,000 euros from the
bank accounts of one of the Italian protagonists of the European
Parliament alleged Qatar bribery case dubbed 'Qatargate', and of
his daughter.
Some 40,000 euros was taken on a Belgian warrant from the
account of former leftwing MEP Antonio Panzeri. and a further
200,000 from that of his daughter Silvia.
The GIP froze six bank accounts in all, belonging to the
Panzeris, to the former general secretary of the international
trade union federation , Luca Visentini, and form a former aide
to Panzeri, Francesco Giorgi.
Also on Friday, Panzeri's wife Maria Dolores Colleoni appealed
to the supreme Cassation Court against a Bergamo appeals court
order to hand her over to Belgium.
Mihalis Dimitrakopoulos, the lawyer representing the former
vice-president of the European Parliament Eva Kaili, another of
the key figures in the graft case which also allegedly involved
Morocco, on Thursday said she was "never corrupted", expressing
the hope that she will be "released soon", arriving
in court in Brussels on Thursday morning.
The former Greek MEP was scheduled to appear in court over the
Qatar corruption scandal for a hearing to decide whether she
will remain in custody or if she will be released until her case
is taken to court.
After the hearing upheld her detention, her lawyer said Friday
she was "very sad, she's far away from her daughter, she's
living a catastrophe".
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