Greek authorities have asked Panama for information regarding possible money transfers from Qatar to accounts belonging to MEP Eva Kaili, who’s currently detained in Brussels pending trial over corruption allegations.
The chairman of Greece’s anti-money laundering authority, Charalampos Vourliotis, sent an urgent request to authorities in Panama — a well-known tax haven with a reputation for lacking financial transparency — asking to be informed whether remittances of some €20 million had been transferred from Qatar to accounts that may have been opened by Kaili or her family members, according to officials at the agency.
The MEP and former European Parliament vice president has been in jail since December 9, after being arrested and charged in a sprawling probe into Qatar’s lobbying operation in Brussels that has also ensnared Kaili’s partner, a former MEP and an NGO boss. Shortly after Kaili’s arrest, Greece’s anti-money laundering authority froze all assets belonging to Kaili and her family.