The Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal of Marc Tarabella and Eva Kaili against their extended detention in the Qatargate case. Eva Kaili and Marc Tarabella will remain in detention as
the Court of Cassation has rejected the appeals filed by the former Greek Vice-President of the European Parliament and the Belgian MEP against the decision of the Brussels Chamber of Accusations to keep them in pre-trial detention as part of the Qatargate case, the investigation into suspected corruption in the European Parliament.
The federal prosecutor has been conducting a large-scale investigation for several months into attempts by Qatar to influence economic and political decision-making at the European Parliament. The Middle Eastern state is believed to have paid significant sums of money or offered substantial gifts to individuals in political or strategic positions within and around the European Parliament. Morocco also emerged in the investigation, with a possible corruption attempt by its intelligence agency, the DGED, and its ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun.
Both countries allegedly attempted to influence European decisions through Italian Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former MEP, and his NGO, Fight Impunity.
Eva Kaili was arrested on December 11 and Marc Tarabella on February 10.
On March 3, the Chamber of Accusations decided to extend their detention, confirming a decision of the Council Chamber a few days earlier. Both subsequently appealed to the Court of Cassation. The former Vice-President of the European Parliament did not provide any additional arguments, while Marc Tarabella's defense highlighted four new ones.
However, in both cases, the Court of Cassation followed the public prosecutor and rejected the appeals. Photo by euranet_plus, Wikimedia commons.