The Milan prosecutor’s office is set to request the dismissal of the remaining Italian strand of the Qatargate investigation.
The probe centred on alleged money laundering through Equality Consultancy, a company linked to former MEP Antonio Panzeri.
Prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Cecilia Vassena have concluded there are no elements to support the accusation that the firm was used to repatriate bribes allegedly received in Belgium from Qatar and Morocco to influence European Parliament decisions, Corriere della Sera reported yesterday.
According to reports, Belgian authorities provided insufficient evidence and independent inquiries yielded no proof of illicit activity.
One witness described contacts with Panzeri’s associate Francesco Giorgi as attempts to secure legitimate European Union funding that never materialised.
The decision follows an earlier dismissal in April 2024 of a separate Italian strand involving former trade unionist Susanna Camusso.
The Milan branch represents the last active Italian offshoot of the broader Belgian-led probe into alleged corruption at the European Parliament, which remains ongoing in Brussels amid procedural challenges.
The suspected transfers to Equality Consultancy amounted to around €275,000 from entities in England and Turkey between 2019 and 2020.
Defence arguments, supported by statements from Panzeri and Giorgi, maintain these were legitimate payments, including €75,000 linked to Turkish lawyer Hakan Camuz and further sums from a Turkish firm.
Inquiries in Turkey went unanswered.
The company is based in Opera near Milan and managed by accountant Monica Bellini, who was briefly detained in 2023 on a Belgian warrant later refused by Italian judges. The firm was dissolved in 2021.
Bellini remains under investigation in Belgium alongside Panzeri, Giorgi, Eva Kaili and others.
Three years after the December 2022 raids that launched Qatargate, the Belgian investigation faces significant hurdles.
No indictments have been issued and a parallel probe is examining alleged leaks to media, procedural irregularities and conflicts of interest involving investigators and judges.
Italian media and some of the accused have pointed the finger at what they claim are the many problems within the Belgian justice system, claiming therein lies the real scandal.
In October 2025, Milan prosecutors opened a separate calunnia (slander) case against Panzeri following a complaint by Kaili and Giorgi, who allege he falsely implicated them despite knowing their innocence.
Belgian investigators from the General Inspectorate of the Police (AIG), accompanied by a judge, have searched the Central Office for the Suppression of Corruption (OCRC), reportedly in connection with leaks in the Qatargate investigation. https://t.co/Exp6WhsfMn
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 7, 2025
Also regarding Qatargate, on December 16, the European Parliament voted in favour of waiving the immunity of Democratic Party MEP Alessandra Moretti.
It also voted in favour of defending immunity for the Democratic Party MEP Elisabetta Gualmini over alleged involvement in the bribery scandal.
Moretti said she was “bitter” because “the elements on which the request was based had already been denied by me on a documentary basis and I continue to maintain that the vote did not look so much at the contents of the request, but was conditioned by political-electoral strategies and conveniences”.
Moretti told Italian news agency ANSA: “I hope to be heard in the prosecutor’s office as soon as possible to be able to defend myself from the accusations”, thanking her group and “the many colleagues of each party for their support”.
She described the EP’s decision as “a political vote: In my case, it was a showdown between parliamentary groups”.
Nicola Zingaretti, head of the Italian Democratic Party (PD) delegation to the EP said: “Moretti will demonstrate her correctness and transparency with respect to the disputed facts.”
Moretti is suspected of alleged criminal association for the purpose of corruption, although she insists that “no money has been attributed to me”.
“I have never received benefits, gifts or advantages from anyone, let alone from Morocco or Qatar,” she said.
Qatargate is a major corruption scandal that erupted in December 2022, involving allegations that Qatar and Morocco bribed Socialist MEPs in the EP to influence European Union policies.
Authorities seized large sums of cash during raids in Belgium, leading to the arrest of key figures, including Greek MEP Kaili and former Italian MEP Panzeri. The latter evolved from suspected ringleader to alleged main collaborator, according to the investigators.
Belgian authorities have indicted former MEP Marie Arena for alleged membership of a criminal organisation following a two-year investigation into “Qatargate”. https://t.co/VFzqjNmaNs
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 21, 2025
