‘Envelopes stuffed with €50,000 handed out by Italian MEP’
A former MEP at the centre of an alleged EU graft scandal was captured on video handing out large sums of cash in “Santa Claus” envelopes and comparing himself to someone from the Hollywood heist movie Ocean’s Eleven, it has been claimed.
Pier Antonio Panzeri, 67, a Socialist member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2019, was allegedly filmed in his Brussels home giving three packages embossed with the face of Santa Claus to a trade union boss on Oct 10, according to the Italian daily la Repubblica.
“We seem like those guys from Ocean’s Eleven,” Mr Panzeri is said to have quipped as he handed over the envelopes to Luca Visentini, 53, unaware of hidden microphones police had placed in his home.
The two men are under investigation as part of a widening probe into illicit lobbying by Qatar and Morocco to influence political and economic decisions being made by the European Parliament.
Parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, also Italian, and his partner, former Greek MEP Eva Kaili - are also facing charges of corruption as investigators in Greece and Italy sift through recent financial transactions and luxury property purchases. They have denied the charges.
Envelopes 'contain around 50,000 euros'
In a deposition given to investigating authorities, Mr Visentini claimed the envelopes contained approximately 50,000 euros.
He said he considered them a donation to cover the campaign costs of trade union representatives ahead of a vote for a new head of the International Trade Union Confederation.
Mr Visentini won the vote shortly afterwards. He denies the gifts were a bribe or in exchange for favours and is cooperating with authorities.
Mr Panzeri, who also chaired the EU subcommittee on human rights, is under scrutiny as one of the possible graft kingpins after police found half a million euros in cash at his home in Brussels earlier this month in a scandal that has become known as Qatargate.
As part of the investigation, Italian prosecutors are scrutinising the financial and property transactions by him, his family and his non-governmental organisation Fight Impunity, including the recent purchase of a residence in the Alpine village of Cervinia.
Mr Panzeri’s wife and daughter are appearing before judges in Italy this week regarding possible extradition to Belgium. They have all denied any wrongdoing.
