MEP at centre of Qatargate scandal held in prison for another month after court hearing
Greek MEP Eva Kaili is to be held in detention for another month, after after a ruling by a court in Belgium.
The former European Parliament vice president is suspected of being at the center of one of the European Union’s biggest corruption scandals, and her lawyers had requested her release from prison with a police tracking device.
However after the hearing, the court said it was "extending the pre-trial detention" by another month.
Kaili's lawyers have now got 24 hours to appeal this decision and if they decide to do so, Kaili will appear at the Brussels Court of Appeal within 15 days.
Belgian prosecutors accuse Eva Kaili of corruption, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering. She has been in custody since 9 December while her partner Francesco Giorgi, an adviser at the European Parliament, is also jailed on the same charges.
The two are suspected of working together with Giorgi’s one-time boss, Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former EU lawmaker. According to arrest warrants, Panzeri “is suspected of intervening politically with members working at the European Parliament for the benefit of Qatar and Morocco, against payment.”
TV presenter-turned-politician Kaili, 44, was removed from her post at the European Parliament last week after charges were laid against her. The EU assembly has halted work on files involving Qatar as it investigates what impact the cash-and-gifts-for-influence bribery scandal might have had. Qatar vehemently denies involvement.
The scandal hit the spotlight as Qatar hosted the soccer World Cup. The small, energy-rich Gulf nation has seen its international profile rise as Doha used its massive offshore natural gas fields to make the country one of the world’s richest per-capita, and to
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