Embattled MEP Eva Kaili, who remains jailed in Belgium amid an unprecedented criminal investigation into corruption and influence peddling in the EU’s Parliament, on Tuesday evening – via her attorney – denied charges that she received cash for promoting Qatar’s interests in Brussels.
In a first, albeit conveyed, statement since her judicial remand by Belgian prosecutors last week, she reportedly countered that “it is absolutely false that I had a personal agenda, which I used or promoted the state of Qatar.”
According to her attorney in Greece, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, the 44-year-old Greek Euro-MP – who until Tuesday was also the EP’s vice-president – said discussions to boost the Union’s trade and business relations with Gulf countries began in 2019. Qatar, along with Kuwait and Oman were cited.
Moreover, she claimed that the it was a pair of top EU leaders who first tabled the issue of boosting relations, namely, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. In continuing to “name drop”, Dimitrakopoulos said Kaili also cited EP President Roberta Metsola as fully approving of the initiative.
His client has no relation to the cash
Kaili’s attorney in Greece, whose is different from the legal team she has reportedly retained in Belgium, also claimed that his client has no relation to the cash seized by Belgian police, while repeating that she was not bribed by Qatar and provided no services to the Gulf state.
“Qatar had no obligation to Kaili, it (the country) spoke directly with the European Union,” the lawyer said, during an appearance on a prime-time Athens channel’s newscast.
Speaking ahead of a court appearance on Wednesday in Brussels, in the preliminary phase of the judicial process, he also said the case was not criminal in nature, but a civil case.
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