QATARGATE, ROMAN HEADQUARTERS OF FIGÀ-TALAMANCA NGO AND EMMA BONINO SEARCHED
An important turning point in the international investigation of Qatargate: at the request of the Belgian prosecutor Michel Claise – in an attempt to follow the flow of money allegedly the result of bribes from Qatar and Morocco in the various organizations involved – the Roman headquarters of the NGO “No Peace Without Justice”. The non-governmental organization is the one founded by Emma Bonino in 1993, today managed by Niccolò Figà-Talamanca or one of the first arrested on the serious Qatargate charges (corruption, money laundering and criminal association), but recently released from prison pending the conclusion full of investigations.
The “Italian” strand of Qatargate saw the involvement, on the instructions of the Belgian judges, of the Milan prosecutor’s office and the Guardia di Finanza: both the headquarters of the NGO in Rome and the house of the treasurer Antonella Casu, former Italian Radicals, were searched. The outline of this line of inquiry is clear: wanting to follow the flow of money arriving in the organizations involved and confirmed to be part of the “turnover” linked to Antonio Panzeri, leader of another NGO targeted by the judges (the Fight Impunity). Precisely these NGOs, according to the scheme of the prosecution, would have been fundamental for circulating the money resulting from bribes: it was Francesco Giorgi, Eva Kaili’s companion and former assistant in the European Parliament of Panzeri, who explained in his interrogations that after an initial phase Initially, the desire to create a system that would allow money to flow not in cash form, but through compliant NGOs that “circulated the money giving the bribes a semblance of legality” emerged.
EX RADICAL TREASURER ANTONELLA CASU QUESTIONED: DEVELOPMENTS IN QATARGATE
This network in Italy had been allowed, according to the Public Prosecutor investigating Qatargate, by the work of the accountant Monica Bellini, considered “the architect of the recycling network”: in particular, with the NGO of Figà-Talamanca – which continues to profess its innocence from any accusation – a series of wire transfers are being investigated which are sent monthly from “No Peace Without Justice” to the lawyer Silvia Panzeri, the daughter of the former Pd-Art.1 MEP. “The NGO is not being investigated – explains the lawyer Guido Camera who assists NPWJ – as always we have guaranteed maximum collaboration to the investigators, with the hope that light will soon be shed on the facts under investigation”.
After these searches, the Milan prosecutor’s office will have a confrontation (by the end of February) with the Belgian magistrates, only after which it could open an independent file within the Qatargate. As Rai explains, the inspections were carried out by the Guardia di Finanza on the basis of a European investigation order from the Brussels judiciary in the context of Qatargate: Casu was interrogated assisted by a lawyer to provide explanations on the money flows and transfers ( presumed) snapped at Panzeri’s daughter.
Source: Ilsussidiario
