BRUSSELS (Belgium), March 11, 2023 (SPS) – Reports by “Radio France” and the Belgian newspaper “Le Soir” revealed some results of the Belgian intelligence investigations into the bribes offered by Morocco within the European Parliament, which implicated it in the largest corruption case in the history of the continental institution. , or what became known as “Maroc Gate”.
Journalist Benoit Clumba, a member of the “Radio France” investigative team, spoke about the former Italian representative in the European Parliament, Pierre Antonio Panziri, and his relations with the Moroccan Makhzen intelligence, and his loyalty to it.
The investigation team revealed that “on June 4, 2022, the Belgian intelligence service kept the highly encrypted conversation that it intercepted between the Socialist MP Panziri and his wife while they were traveling to Morocco.”
“The Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, brought money from time to time to his apartment in Paris,” Francesco Giorgi, one of Panziri’s former collaborators, said in December 2022.
The report continued to publish the findings of the investigation, which confirmed that the Belgian security services were alerted in 2021 by five European intelligence agencies, on suspicion that Panziri was “the focus of a wide network of interference and corruption operating within European institutions.”
In July 2022, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor opened an investigation into corruption and money laundering involving a number of parliamentarians who work in secret to influence the decisions of European Union institutions.
In a declassified note, the investigators wrote: “Large sums (several million euros) are being paid by Morocco secretly and in cash.”
The investigation stated that a team of three Italians were among the deputies who took bribes, headed by Panziri, “this prominent figure in the European Parliament who headed the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries, as well as the Subcommittee on Human Rights.” He also co-chaired the joint parliamentary committee between Morocco and the European Union.
In this group there are also the Italian deputy Andrea Cozzolino and the parliamentary attaché Francesco Giorgi (companion of the Vice-President of the European Parliament, the Greek Eva Kaili).
The investigators said that “this team worked under the leadership of a Moroccan intelligence officer named Mohamed B., who, according to the estimates of the Belgian intelligence services, has been known since 2008 for his intervention activities in Belgium, and he was also active in France, where he is being prosecuted for corruption of public officials, as he was already suspected.” In his bribery of a French policeman (with money and trips) in order to obtain the identity of persons on behalf of Morocco.”
The investigation indicates that since 2008, Morocco has had “a special position within European institutions that allows it to benefit from a whole series of advantages without necessarily being restricted to its institutions, due to bribes.”
Earlier, the former member of the European Parliament, French Josie Bouvi, accused the former Moroccan Minister of Agriculture and current Prime Minister, Aziz Akhannouch, of attempting to bribe him over the Free Trade Agreement – Agricultural Exchange.
According to leaked Moroccan official documents, a letter from Morocco’s ambassador to the European Union dated 2013 indicates that Antonio Panziri was also to be called upon to “raise awareness among Italian deputies for a positive vote on fisheries agreements.” (SPS)
Source: Spsrasd
