Morocco and Qatar Implicated in European Parliament Corruption Probe

During the search of the Brussels apartment of the former Italian elected official, the investigators would have found 600,000 euros in cash. He is said to have received this money from Qatar. According to the legal documents obtained by international media, Pier Antonio Panzeri is suspected of having "politically intervened with European MPs in favor of Qatar and Morocco, in exchange for payment." His wife, Maria Dolores Colleoni and his daughter Silvia Panzeri would be aware of the "deal" and would have even participated "in the transport of gifts" received from the Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, reports Politico.

The same documents reveal that "the Panzeri couple and C. have, for example, used the credit card of a third person, called the ’giant’". Is the Moroccan diplomat this "giant"? The investigation is still ongoing. Panzeri and Atmoun would be "good friends". They regularly meet as co-chairs of a body for exchanges between the European and Moroccan Parliaments, it is specified. The former left-wing MEP made a trip to Morocco in 2013, where he visited the Moroccan diplomat in the company of Marc Tarabella.

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In addition to Antonio Panzeri, his wife and daughter were simultaneously arrested in Calusco d’Adda, near Bergamo, by the Italian police for "criminal association aimed at corruption and money laundering". Still as part of the corruption investigation, the Belgian police also arrested one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, the Greek Eva Kaili.