Kaili admits to asking father to hide money

Greek MEP Eva Kaili has admitted under questioning in Belgium that she had asked her father to hide part of the money that was in her home, according to reports in the Belgian magazine Knack and newspaper Soir.

The press reports note that her partner, Francesco Giorgi, had admitted that he was part of an organization used by both Morocco and Qatar to intervene in European affairs and that according to documents in the possession of both Soir and the Italian daily Repubblica, Kaili has “partially confessed,” admitting that she asked her father to hide money that was in her apartment.

Kaili’s father was arrested on December 9, on the first day of an anti-corruption operation by Belgian authorities, in the Brussels Sofitel hotel with a suitcase full of cash. According to the arrest warrant for the Greek MEP issued on the same day, she had admitted that she had instructed her father to hide the money.

Knack reports that Kaili said that she had known about her husband’s activities with former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri in the past and that the suitcases filled with cash had been in her apartment. It said the former presenter “panicked” when police stopped Giorgi as he was leaving their apartment on December 9. She then contacted her father and also attempted to warn Panzeri and two unnamed MEPs who are also under investigation.

It adds that Kaili’s Belgian lawyer emailed the magazine on Monday to express “outrage” that the magazine had access to these documents and that the rules were not being respected while claiming that its report of “partial confessions” was a “biased interpretation.” [AMNA]