Suspect in EU graft investigation to cooperate, prosecutors say

One of the suspects in the ongoing graft investigation that has rocked the European Parliament said that they intend to cooperate with the authorities in Belgium. Prosecutors said the suspect agreed to cooperate in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor issued a statement on Tuesday that one of the suspects in the probe, former Italian EU parliament lawmaker Pier Antonio Panzeri has agreed to cooperate with the authorities in exchange for a lesser sentence. Panzeri agreed to sign a “repentance agreement” where he would commit to making “substantial, revealing, truthful, and complete statements” about those involved and the crimes that were committed in the investigation.

Panzeri will be expected to inform investigators of how the operations were carried out, the financial arrangements made with other countries, and the structures that were set up, as well as the stakeholders and benefits and the involvement of both known and unknown individuals within the probe. This also included the identities of those Panzeri admits to bribing.

In exchange, the former EU lawmaker would be sentenced to one year in prison, four years of suspended jail time, a fine, and the confiscation of assets that were acquired by the authorities, which amount to over $1 million. The prosecutor’s spokesperson Eric van Duyse told Reuters that if Panzeri did not sign the agreement, he would face “a heavier sentence”, as he was identified in the files that were provided to Belgian investigators.

Van Duyse said that if Panzeri failed to give the investigators all the relevant information, the agreement would be cancelled.

On Wednesday, Panzeri’s tax accountant Monica Rossana Bellini was arrested by the Guardia di Finanza tax police in Milan at Belgium’s request through a European warrant. Bellini faces charges of criminal association, corruption, and money laundering and is suspected of setting up companies that laundered the alleged corruption money.

On the same day, a judge in the appeals court in Milan validated the arrest and granted Bellini house arrest, according to a judicial source. By the end of the month, the appeals court will hold a hearing to determine whether to turn Bellini to Belgian authorities.