As the first hearings have been concluded last week and the decision of the Judge Michel Claise is expected, the four indicted persons, Eva Kaili, Antonio Panzeri, Francesco Giorgi and Niccolò Figa-Talamenca, the voices about other inquiries, perquisitions and eventual arrests might involve many other people and many other countries.
The Italian investigative newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano recall that the case was under investigation since 2021 and many police and secret services were involved, conducting phone interception, and physical surveillance that leaded to the arrests and seizure of 1,6 million Euros in cash. According to the newpaper, voiced by many others in Europe and social networks, the Belgian security services might have been tipped by the UAE services about the fact that Qatar was paying money to Eurodeputies in exchange of favourable voices over the emirate and especially the World Cup organization related to the migrant workers issues.
However, as the Italian investigators (Guardia di Finanza) was moving along its investigation, the center of the attention was moving to Italian individuals connected to NGOs and the Socialist party, both Italian and European.
Questions are however raised over trips of Europeduties, including Margaritis Schinas and Eva Kaili to Abu Dhabi just before the World Cup kickoff. The two claims to have never received any paiements or valuable gifts. The question remains how these two Eurodeputies could have spoken during a dinner in a Greek restaurant in Abu Dhabi with some representatives of the local National Media Council, which is particularily active in France and Germany.
In an interview with the Greek MEDIA TV channel, reported by Euracity, Mrs Kaili’s lawyer Dimitrakopoulos sustains that her client has nothing to do with corruption and was acting under the order, regarding her trip to Qatar, of the President of the Europarliament Roberta Metsola enforcing a plan decided by the High Representative Josep Borrell and Yiva Johansson (Commissioner for Home Affairs).
It is a secret for no one that Qatar and Abu Dhabi are engulfed in a communication war that rages in both US and EU for massive influence and contracts. The interest of both parties to benefit from strong lobbiyst links in Brussel is kind of obvious for both.
However, the way that this happens is pretty weird and mostly shows an pretty big amount of amateurism and candor from Eurodeputies taking money to advocate for a cause or other’s interests. This a plain corruption and Europarliament is full of it from all sides.
At this stage of the inquiries and the information that are leaked out about the current investigation, are to be placed in perspective of many other publications and facts that have came out these past weeks and the political battles in and outside the EU members and interest groups.
Some raises the question on how come such a case shall be investigated by the Belgium authorities and not by the EU courts (mosltly OLAF which is dedicated to this kind of case), concluding that they’re might be a procedure and jurisdiction problem that turns all the current inquiry ineffective.
Following these questions, there are other voices questionning the opportunity of such a timing of the « publicization » of the case, just when the Anticorruption inquiries against the President of Commission Ursula Von der Leyen on the Pfizer case is going into silence.
The involvement of Morocco is also very appropriate and this might refer to other « conflicts » between countries and their respective agents and circumstanciated alliances. France and Italy are fighting among them on refugees, but mostly over the control of Lybian oil. It is surprising that the indicted and other people searched during this inquiry are most of them Italians and some Greeks and that Kaili have met and have her trips organized by a Franch national that is working for the Abu Dhabi National Media Council. Timewise, this coincide with the visit in paris of the new Abud Dhabi ruler known as MBZ.
The fight between Morocco and his allies (US, Israel and GCC) and Algeria over the control of the Western Sahara might also be on the background of this affair or might lead to other side cases.
Finally, the fight between persons, consultants and lobbyists make them easy target for tricky operations that might lead to accuse an enemy with the main actors not knowing what they are doing and with whom they are working. It is today very simple to trick the IPs of an email, to use the mobile phone from a country and to trick the investigators and make all evidence pointing on one direction.
The pandora box opened by the Belgian authorities might be one of these cases that is shaking a part of a massive tree of corruption, greed, economical interests, strategic battles between states, administration, secret services and medias. We truly hope that the Belgian authorities are aware of these multiple interests and problems they are facing and not to be used or manipulated by other powers leading to wrong conclusions and accusations. But now as the pandora box is open, it is pretty much impossible to close is back and look somewhere else. They have the duty to go to the core in a heavy mined path.