Former MEP Antonio Panzeri, who ended up in handcuffs in the Qatargate investigation, “seems to have developed and animated a fraudulent organisation” characterized by a “complex, organized and repetitive nature” of corrupting acts; organization with respect to which “the defendant appears to have knowingly taken part”. This is what we read in the European arrest warrant signed by the Belgian judge Michel Claise and notified to Maria Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri, respectively wife and daughter of the former MEP, pending the hearing which will have to decide on their delivery to the Brussels magistrates.
The judge, in the European mandate, underlines how there is the danger that “if released, he will commit new crimes or offences, similar or more serious”, or could hinder “the proper carrying out of the investigation or that he will escape the action of justice , attempting to remove evidence or colluding with third parties in order to warn them or in order to elicit false testimony”.
And it does not unbutton beyond who performed i initial checks on current accounts of the former MEP, speaking only of “significant figures”. . Investigations requested by the Brussels judiciary and carried out by the Milan prosecutor’s office aimed at shedding light on possible suspicious movements that could strengthen the prosecution’s thesis. From what transpires, the bank documents that are arriving on the table of the Milan prosecutor’s office contain “some ideas”, but it is too early to fully quantify the balances of the seven current accounts acquired so far and to be able to reconstruct the exact chain of certain transfers.
At the moment the Milanese judiciary is limiting itself to following the indications of Belgium, without carrying out seizures on the initiative – which should be examined by a judge – but pending new indications from Brussels (given certain by the investigators), it is not excluded that the international affairs department headed by the deputy Fabio De Pasquale will be able to act autonomously, even if the timing of a possible Milanese file is not at all certain.
There Guarantee commission of the Democratic Party has decided to suspend “cautiously” the MEP Andrea Cozzolinoinvolved in the affair. The provision “is immediately enforceable”.
The commission met today, at the request of the secretary Enrico Letta “following the news reported by the press on the development of the investigations relating to the corruption network which acted to influence the decisions of the European Parliament”, reported a note. “This in order to take the most appropriate decisions, to guarantee the honourability of the community of democrats and women and to protect the exponents themselves called into question – he continued – so that they are more free to explain their reasons and provide the clarifications that will be requested by the investigating authorities. The Democratic Party confirms that it is the injured party in this affair and will act accordingly in all judicial offices”.
During the meeting “the members resolved to suspend the Honorable Andrea Cozzolino as a precaution from the Register of members and voters of the Democratic Party, as well as from all the bodies of the party to which he might possibly be a part. And this until the closure of the ongoing investigation by the judiciary relating to the ‘Qatargate’ scandal”.
“The provision – which applies the rules of the Statute of the Democratic Party, the Code of Ethics and the Regulation of the Commissions of Guarantees, and which aims to protect the image of the Democratic Party and to allow the Honorable Cozzolino (already self-suspended by the S&D Group of the Parliament European) the broadest defense of one’s positions – is immediately executive”.
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