EU lawmaker charged by Belgian court over European Parliament scandal
ATHENS
Italian European lawmaker Andrea Cozzolino was released on parole after being accused of corruption, local media in Italy reported Wednesday.
Cozzolino, a member of European Parliament, denied the charges while being questioned by police on Monday. A Belgian judge later ordered his release, Cozzolino’s lawyers said, according to public broadcaster RaiNews.
His release was subjected to certain conditions, including no contact with other suspects in the scandal and reporting his travels out of Belgium in advance, RaiNews added.
Cozzolino spent over four months in preventive confinement in his home, located in southern Italy. Before his detention, he was held in Naples in police custody, under a European warrant issued by the then-investigating judge Michel Claise.
The socialist legislator flew to Brussels on Monday for questioning after the revocation of his house arrest.
– Corruption scandal
The EU has been shaken by one of the biggest corruption scandals in its history after Eva Kaili, a Greek member of European Parliament, was arrested on Dec. 9 by Belgian police on corruption charges.
Kaili, 44, from Greece’s center-left PASOK-KINAL party and one of the European Parliament’s 14 vice presidents, was arrested after her home was searched on corruption charges allegedly involving Qatar, which was accused of paying Kaili to lobby for the Gulf state’s interests.
Also, up to €1.5 million ($1.62 million) in cash was seized by the Belgian police across dozens of home and office searches. In addition, parliamentary computers were also confiscated to protect important data.
Those detained alongside Kaili also included Italian European Parliament deputy Pier Antonio Panzeri, Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi, who worked as an assistant in the European Parliament, and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, the director of the non-governmental organization working on rule of law.
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