The bank deposits of European Parliament Vice-President (EP) Eva Kaili, who was arrested on suspicion of corruption, have more than doubled in two years, annual declarations of assets that she submitted and are available on the Hellenic Parliament’s website show. This information is cited by international agencies.
Eva Kaili, vice-president of the European Parliament and member of the European Socialists (Socialists and Democrats group, S&D) was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation by Belgian justice in connection with alleged bribery by Qatar, the party’s host. The 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup, to influence political decisions in Strasbourg (the seat of the European Parliament).
In her statement for 2019, referring to the 2018 financial year, Eva Kayli announced that her income was 550 thousand euros (more than half of which came from the sale of a house on the outskirts of Athens), and her bank deposits amounted to 210 thousand euros, most of which were deposited. In a Belgian bank, on Monday, the Spanish agency EFE applied.
A year later (financial year 2019), their deposits almost doubled to 405 thousand euros, despite the decrease in their declared income in that period (219 thousand euros). That year, he also announced the purchase of an apartment in the Psigikou neighborhood of Athens, worth €270,000.
In 2020, the deposits announced by the Hellenic Parliament continued to rise, reaching 461,846 euros, although their income fell again (164 thousand euros).
The Greek Anti-Money Laundering Authority today ordered the confiscation of assets (real estate, bank accounts, companies) belonging to Eva Kayli and her closest family members in the country, with the justification that they may be the result of illegal activities. The main objective of the confiscation of assets by the Greek authorities is to locate and block the final transfer of funds or movable property that could prove the crime of money laundering.
Eva Kaili was arrested on Friday in Brussels, and searches of her apartment by the authorities revealed bags containing 150,000 euros in cash, according to the local press. His father was arrested on the same day in flagrante delicto in a hotel in the Belgian capital, and he was carrying a bag containing 600,000 euros in cash, with which he intended to flee.
The investigations that the Greek authorities are currently conducting are focusing on an Athens-based real estate company that Eva Kayli founded a month ago with her partner and advisor in the European Parliament, the Italian Francesco Giorgi, who is also in detention. Like Eva Kaili, Francesco Giorgi was charged by a Belgian judge with the crime of participating in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.
The Greek Minister of Justice, Kostas Tsiaras, confirmed today via the private Sky TV channel that Greece is fully prepared to cooperate with the Belgian authorities to clarify the issue of corruption. And the Socialists in the European Parliament decided on Saturday to suspend Kylie’s membership in the parliamentary group, while Maltese European Parliament President Roberta Metsola suspended her duties as vice president.
