Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, who was convicted by Belgian justice in a corruption scandal in the European Parliament involving Qatar and Morocco, was arrested on Friday at a clinic in Naples (south), where he was undergoing a medical examination, Italian media reported. quoted by AFP.

Cozzolino was detained after leaving the clinic on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by Belgian authorities, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

His immunity, as in the case of MEP Tarabella (detained by Belgian police on Friday), was lifted on February 2 after a vote in the European Parliament.

According to the parliament’s report, Cozzolino, who until January was the president of the EP delegation for relations with the Maghreb, “is suspected of participating in an agreement with other people that involved cooperation to protect the interests of third countries in the European Parliament.” And this “in particular by preventing the adoption of parliamentary resolutions that could harm the interests of these states, in exchange for certain sums of money”.

Cozzolino, 60, a former member of Italy’s Communist Party, began his career in Europe in 2009 with the Democratic Party, which expelled him from its ranks, and the European Social Democratic Group.

In this major corruption case, Belgian investigators seized €1.5 million in cash from the homes of Pierre Antonio Panzeri, a former Socialist MEP turned NGO leader who is central to the scandal, and Socialist MEP Elena Kaili, and also in the suitcase her father was carrying.

Kylie is behind bars, as is her life partner, Italian Francesco Giorgi, parliamentary assistant, Pier Antonio Panzeri, and another Italian, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, a representative of a non-governmental organization. All are accused of “belonging to a criminal organization”, “money laundering” and “corruption”. (Agerpress)