Qatargate accused Marc Tarabella broke down in front of press on May 10 as he accused his former friend Pier Antonio Panzeri of “throwing him to the wolves”.
Belgian Socialist Euro MP Tarabella, who has been released on bail pending an appearance in court on corruption charges, said his time in prison was “the worst of his life”.
“I see my face on the front page of the news, every night,” the Walloon parliamentarian told media. “My name is everywhere. The name of my family, my mother, my wife, my sister, my daughter, my son.”
He had spent five months in preventative custody “on the sole basis of the words of a man who later admitted to being the head of a criminal organisation”, he said – a reference to Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former Euro MP was has struck a plea bargain deal with Belgian authorities. Tarabella implied he had been “thrown to the wolves” by Panzeri in the hope that he [Panzeri] would not be “devoured”.
The Belgian, who denies all charges, is one of a group of Euro MPs and former officials alleged to have taken bribes in exchange for political favours. Both the Qatari government and the Moroccan government were allegedly behind the fraud, leaked police documents suggest.
Tarabella refused to answer questions though his lawyer stated that he is seeking to go back to work at the Strasbourg-based Parliament in order to vote with his Socialist colleagues.
“And he will ask the examining magistrate for permission to go to Strasbourg to attend sessions of the European Parliament again,” the lawyer said. “It is up to the [Socialist] faction to which he still belongs and to the PS [Socialist Party] to decide what to do with Mr. Tarabella.”
The European Parliament website now lists Tarabella as a “non-attached” member.
