By Emilio Parodi
BRESCIA, Italy -An Italian court docket on Monday agreed at hand over to the Belgian authorities a second lady suspected of involvement in a Qatar graft scandal that has rocked the European Parliament.
An appeals court docket within the northern metropolis of Brescia stated Silvia Panzeri, 38, might be extradited, after having twice postponed a ruling pending a report on situations in Belgian jails.
Her attorneys had stated final month the request ought to have been rejected due to overcrowding in Belgian jails, and the judges requested for data from Brussels on its jail system that has taken a number of weeks to reach.
Panzeri is the daughter of former EU lawmaker Pier Antonio Panzeri, who's believed by Brussels prosecutors to be one of many foremost gamers within the alleged corruption. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The identical court docket, with a special set of judges, had already cleared the switch to Brussels of Maria Dolores Colleoni, the spouse of Pier Antonio Panzeri and mom of Silvia.
Colleoni remains to be in Italy, nevertheless, as a result of her attorneys filed an enchantment towards her switch with Italy’s highest appeals court docket which is anticipated to determine on Jan. 31.
Angelo De Riso, a lawyer for Silvia Panzeri, stated his staff would determine within the subsequent 5 days whether or not to pursue an enchantment to the very best court docket.
He described the response from the Belgian authorities on jail situations as not enough.
Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri have been beneath home arrest in northern Italy since Dec. 10, in compliance with a European arrest order issued by Belgian magistrates over their alleged “participation in a prison organisation, cash laundering and corruption”. They've denied any involvement.
Final week, an Italian court docket upheld the seizure of two financial institution accounts containing 247,000 euros ($267,000) that belong to Colleoni, Pier Antonio and Silvia Panzeri, rejecting an enchantment by their attorneys to unfreeze the accounts.
The accounts had been seized in December by Italian prosecutors on the request of Belgian magistrates.
Belgian prosecutors suspect Greek MEP Eva Kaili and others accepted bribes from World Cup host Qatar in a bid to affect European Union policymaking in one of many greatest scandals to hit the 27-nation bloc.
Qatar has stated it had no involvement within the EU scandal. Kaili has denied wrongdoing.
($1 = 0.9235 euros)
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