• Friday, 22 November 2024

EU lawmaker Kaili says won't return to Athens before she is acquitted

EU lawmaker Kaili says won't return to Athens before she is acquitted

Eva Kaili, an EU lawmaker from Greece who was also the European Parliament's vice president until shortly after her arrest in a corruption probe, says she will not return to Greece before she is acquitted.

 

"If I don't manage to convince the Belgian justice system that I am innocent, I will never return to my home country," Kaili told Athens weekly To Vima on Saturday.

 

The last suspect held in jail in a corruption investigation which shook the European Parliament, Kaili was moved to house arrest on Friday.

 

Kaili was detained in December alongside other former and sitting lawmakers. The defendants are accused of taking bribes from Qatar and Morocco in return for influencing the parliament and are also charged with money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.

 

Qatar and Morocco deny any wrongdoing.

 

"I will never confess that I betrayed the people who honoured me with their voice," Kaili added.

 

She spent her first night under house arrest with her daughter at her flat in Brussels, her lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told Athens news channel Skai from Brussels on Saturday.

 

"She wants to be back at the European Parliament meetings [after the end of the legal proceedings]," Dimitrakopoulos said.

 

Kaili is to spend her pre-trial detention under house arrest with an electronic bracelet.

 

The four other main suspects in the case have been moved to house arrest in the past months.

 

Belgian police announced in December they had seized close to €1.5 million ($1.7 million) in raids linked to the corruption probe.