EU bribery claims: Italian MEP’s Morocco links investigated

Pier Antonio Panzeri and his family expected to welcome the new year in a five-star hotel in Marrakesh, allegedly paid for by the Moroccan government. Instead the former Italian lawmaker, his wife and daughter, spent it under arrest. Panzeri has emerged as a central figure in the corruption probe that shocked the Brussels establishment in December when Belgian police raided the premises of the European Parliament and seized more than €1.5 million in cash at Panzeri and two other suspects’ houses.

Qatar, prosecutors believe, used Panzeri and his network to improve its image in Brussels in advance of the World Cup. But the 67-year-old Italian was not new to the game: investigators suspect he had been receiving bribes and gifts from Moroccan officials for over a decade in return for influencing EU policy.

Until 2019, when he failed to get re-elected to the European Parliament, Panzeri had been the institution’s point-person for EU-Moroccan relations, a human rights advocate and a frequent visitor to La Mamounia, the luxury Marrakesh resort that once hosted Winston Churchill.

According to transcripts of wiretapped conversations described to the Financial Times, the Panzeri family discussed gifts from Abderrahim Atmoun, Morocco’s ambassador to Poland. The Panzeris also discussed plans to spend one week, including New Year’s Eve, at La Mamounia, at Rabat’s expense.

Jumping jelly bean Rishi Sunak bounces into campaign mode

---

‘Our plan and our priorities are working’: Rishi Sunak limbers up for UK election campaign centred on economy

---

‘Bionic MP’ makes emotional return to the House of Commons after quadruple amputation

---

ICC warrant request appears to shore up domestic support for Netanyahu

---

Panzeri’s wife and daughter are under house arrest in Lombardy and are waiting to be transferred to Belgium, where he is being held, with prosecutors alleging that they were both aware of the corruption scheme.

Panzeri’s lawyer declined to comment for this story, as did Morocco’s foreign ministry. A lawyer for Panzeri’s wife and daughter said they denied any wrongdoing.

Panzeri’s ties with Moroccan officials go back more than a decade to his time as head of the parliament’s EU-Maghreb delegation. Between 2011-19, Atmoun co-chaired an EU-Morocco joint parliamentary committee with Panzeri, according to public records. He also travelled frequently to Italy.

Parliamentary records show Panzeri held views favourable to the Moroccan government as early as 2010, when he urged the European Commission to allocate more funding for the country. His voting record also indicates positive votes on the EU-Morocco trade agreement and the fisheries agreement.

On September 1st, 2012, Atmoun attended an event held by the Italian centre-left Democratic Party, at which Panzeri praised the democratic push by Morocco, in contrast, for example, to Tunisia. “The EU has finally realised it must take a different approach,” said Panzeri, according to a recorded video. The corruption investigation – initially an intelligence operation which the Belgian secret service started in 2021, in co-operation with several other European intelligence services – began by looking into elements of Morocco’s relations with the EU. The focus was on Rabat’s lobbying efforts on fishing rights and the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, according to two officials familiar with the matter.

Most of Western Sahara is under Moroccan control, but the Algeria-backed Polisario Front has been demanding independence and a UN referendum to determine the territory’s fate has been stalled for decades.

In 2021, an EU court annulled two trade and fisheries agreements between Brussels and Morocco because the people of Western Sahara had not been properly consulted, though they remain in force pending an appeal. In July 2022, Belgian intelligence officers planted video cameras in Panzeri’s Brussels home after having discovered €700,000 in cash stashed there. They then tipped off Belgian police and the federal prosecutor, according to the two officials with knowledge of the investigation.

[ The Irish Times view of the European parliament bribery scandal ]

In one instance recorded by surveillance, Panzeri handed out €50,000 in envelopes embossed with Santa Claus to an Italian trade unionist, Luca Visentini, who was seeking re-election as head of the International Trade Union Confederation. Visentini admitted receiving the cash as a donation for his ITUC campaign and denied any wrongdoing. Investigators allege the Panzeri group was able to influence votes against two Moroccan activists shortlisted for the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights award in 2018 and in 2021, respectively. Instead of backing the Moroccan nominee put forward by the far left in 2021, the Socialists in the European Parliament ended up voting for a Bolivian candidate nominated by the far right.

Last week, Belgian prosecutors asked the parliament to waive the immunity of two MEPs suspected of involvement in the Panzeri scheme. One of them is Panzeri’s successor as Morocco’s point-man in the European Parliament, Andrea Cozzolino. Cozzolino also inherited Panzeri’s aide who is in Belgian custody along with his former boss. Cozzolino was “provisionally suspended” from Italy’s Democratic Party last month. The MEP did not respond to requests for comment and his lawyers declined to comment. In a statement to Ansa, the Italian press agency, his lawyers said he had “nothing to do with the crimes” and was open to his parliamentary immunity being lifted.

[ Bribery scandal in European Parliament is grist to the mill of EU’s detractors ]

Charles Tannock, a former British MEP who authored a report on human rights in 2013 that criticised abuses by Morocco, said he had no inkling of any Moroccan bribery attempts, but that Panzeri appeared to be constantly trying to water down criticism of Rabat.

Panzeri was always polite and claimed that he merely wanted to ensure decent relations with governments in the region, Tannock told the FT. “I was absolutely flabbergasted when I heard about the allegations.” The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, last week visited Rabat and said he discussed the allegations with the Moroccan government. “Obviously, we are concerned about these events which have been reported in the press. They are disturbing and the charges are serious,” Borrell said after the meeting. “The position of the European Union is clear: there can be no impunity for corruption, zero tolerance for it,” he added. Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita said after meeting Borrell that his country’s partnership with the EU was under “continuous judicial harassment and repeated media attacks ... notably at the parliament”.

– Additional reporting by Heba Saleh in Casablanca and Henry Foy in Brussels

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023