Qatargate, Milan is investigating the money laundering of the “friends” of Doha-Corriere.it

If Panzeri’s Fight Impunity was the means by which to bribe those in the European Parliament who could “beautify” the image of Morocco and Qatar with his words, if through it the money went mainly to Italians, parliamentarians and non-parliamentarians, then it is in Italy that they must be sought and possibly found. The first objective of the investigations by Milan’s deputy prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale is precisely this. For now, the magistrate who heads the “international affairs” pool is moving by providing judicial assistance to colleagues in Brussels who have asked to hear witnesses, acquire bank accounts and verify if there are people connected to Antonio Panzeri who may have received money from the his NGO which, formally engaged in the defense of human rights, seems to work more to protect the interests of Rabat and Doha, according to the few, meager official accusations of which we have news. And there are already the first results.

Milanese investigative sources speak of “substantial” funds deposited in the first current accounts examined. Qatar would have needed not to see its image tarnished by the debate on human rights violations in its territory, especially those of workers who died by the hundreds in accidents during the construction of the World Cup works. Excessive attention would have meant the risk of boycotts, of defection of athletes or even of entire national teams or, as has happened, demonstrations by some players, such as those embryonic and immediately crushed by Fifa in the very first matches.

The fact is that the World Cup is coming to an end and the noble themes of human rights have been suffocated by the screams of the fans. Morocco has been pursuing the same path of improving its image for years. On two themes: the treatment of poor immigrants who pass through its territory from the Sahel to arrive in Europe; the problems with the pro-independence groups on the border with Algeria related to Rabat’s aims to extend its territory eastwards into the Sahara. Panzeri’s action, therefore, should have been precisely aimed at creating fertile ground among the parliamentarians he attended during the ten years in which he was a member of Parliament for the Democratic Party and then for Article 1 also through the dense network of their collaborators. Among which there is Francesco Giorgi, the 35-year-old sailing instructor from Abbiategrassor that Panzeri took with him as a collaborator in Brussels when he was a deputy, guaranteeing him the important salary that is granted to these figures by the institution. When Panzeri was not re-elected in 2019, Giorgi went on to do the same job with Eva Kaili, who later also became his partner, now they have a 22-month-old daughter. Envied as the most beautiful couple in the European Parliament, the two are now in prison with Panzeri in the investigation that sees them accused of criminal conspiracy, corruption and money laundering.

Corruption and money laundering: these are crimes that are usually committed with the transfer of goods and money. 600 thousand euros in cash were found at Panzeri’s house, another 750 thousand in the beautiful house in Brussels where Kaili and Giorgi lived until their arrest and which the latter, also to save his partner, confessed to be only his. But investigators suspect that the loot is not limited to this mountain of cash notes. The offshoots of the money, other than that seized, could leave Belgium to land in Italy. Not only in the availability of Panzeri and Giorgi, but also of other characters (the offices of 19 collaborators of parliamentarians were seized and sealed in Brussels, many are Italian). Finding them by following the flow of data is the task of De Pasquale and the Guardia di Finanza.