Legislative Aide Admits Role In EU Parliament Corruption Case

No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), a pro-human rights and democracy organization, is headed by secretary general Niccolo Figa-Talamanca while FI’s president is Pier Antonio Panzeri.

Photo Insert: “I did it all for money, which I needed,” Giorgi supposedly told prosecutors.

NPWJ and FI share the same address, Lorne Cook and Colleen Barry reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Both of them are charged with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. Prosecutors suspect certain European lawmakers and aides “were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament’s decisions.”

The groups themselves do not seem to be under suspicion. Qatar rejects allegations that it’s involved.

Charged along with them are Eva Kaili, who was removed as an EU parliament vice president after the charges were laid, and her partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant. Pictures they’ve posted on social media project the image of an attractive and ambitious Mediterranean jet-set couple.

According to what Italian newspaper La Repubblica and Belgian daily Le Soir said were transcripts of his Dec. 10 statements to prosecutors, Giorgi allegedly confessed to managing money on behalf of an “organization” led by Panzeri that dealt with Qatari and Moroccan representatives.

“I did it all for money, which I needed,” Giorgi told prosecutors, according to La Repubblica. He tried to protect his partner Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek former TV presenter with whom he has an infant daughter, asking that she be released from jail.

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