All the links between Panzeri and Morocco. An 11-year history – Corriere.it

For at least eleven years Morocco has considered Antonio Panzeri an important and precious friend. Consolidated during the two terms of office in the European Parliament, contacts have continued even more intensely since 2019 when Panzeri founded the NGO Fight Impunity. A bond that over time has become too close like the analogous one with the state of Qatar. Both sent Panzeri and other people to prison on charges of having collected money and money in a criminal association aimed at corruption and money laundering which had the aim of influencing the political choices of Parliament to the interests of the two States.

An investigation of the warheads Le Soir and Snaps reconstructs the relationship with Morocco starting from when Chris Coleman, a hacker with an Anglo-Saxon name but a Moroccan identity, between 2014 and 2015 put a series of confidential documents from Rabat online. Among them was a diplomatic note dated October 2011 sent from Brussels in which he spoke of a contact that took place between a representative of the Moroccan mission to the EU and the Italian former MEP. It was reported that in an informal meeting on the sidelines of a plenary session of Parliament in Strasbourg, Panzeri’s “adviser” had brought a message to be sent to the “Moroccan authorities”.

It may have been a completely legitimate normal approach in the context of the activity of a parliamentary assistant, so much so that the note had the purpose of preparing the visit that two weeks later would be made to Rabat by Panzeri who at that time was president of the Parliament’s Maghreb Commission. But there is something more, there is the attention of the Moroccans not to embarrass the then parliamentarian who, perhaps on his choice, was made to stop in an area where there were Saharan refugee camps before transfer him to Rabat: “Tindouf’s visit is essential to strengthen Mr. Panzeri’s credibility with Algeria and Polisario” (the movement active in Western Sahara) which otherwise might have considered him too pro-Moroccan, the document explained.

In another note, dated 2013, the same diplomatic mission to the EU announced a plan to counter Morocco’s opponents within Parliament with conferences, debates and visits coordinating his “action with the president of the Maghreb Delegation to the EP, Mr. Antonio Panzeri, a close friend of Morocco”. From 2019 the reports moved from the offices of Parliament to those of the Fight with impunity and, at least according to what the Belgian judiciary claims, from 1 January 2021 they turn into a criminally relevant issue. Panzeri, in fact, would have tied too much with the Moroccan ambassador to Poland Abderrahim Atmoun, a character who moved in a Brussels study center in whose shadow the secret services of Rabat would have operated.

Panzeri, his wife and daughter also intended to transfer some gifts they had received to Morocco through the diplomat. In the investigations of the Federal Prosecutor there are several meetings between the two and trips made recently by Panzeri to Morocco. Suspicious acquaintances were also recorded between Atmoun and the Pd MEP (now resigned from the group) Andrea Cozzolino. Then there is the thread of ties with Qatar which, however, date back to much more recent times. In fact, the magistrates are focusing on a trip made by Panzeri to the Gulf country at the beginning of November. Even in this case, the prosecution claims, the aim of the country was to obtain a favorable policy. In particular in the debate on respect for human and workers’ rights during the construction of the works for the World Cup.

On Monday, Panzeri’s wife and daughter, who were arrested in the province of Bergamo at the request of the Brussels investigators, will appear before the Brescia Court of Appeal which must decide whether to transfer them to Belgium. Meanwhile, the investigations in Italy into the assets of the Panzeri family – but also into the accounts of the Italians directly involved, such as Francesco Giorgi, the companion of the former vice president of the EU Parliament Eva Kaili – have already led to the identification of “substantial” sums. In the request for the two women to be handed over to Belgium, the Brussels magistrates also ask to hear witnesses and identify all the documents useful for the investigations as well as other people involved “in this fraudulent organization”.