BRUSSELS: The Greek MEP who has become the face of the European Parliament’s widening graft scandal will spend at least another week in jail before attending a postponed pre-trial hearing, her lawyer said on Wednesday.

Eva Kaili, a 44-year-old former newsreader and until this week one of the vice presidents of the Strasbourg parliament, is one of four suspects charged with receiving bribes from World Cup host Qatar to influence EU policy.

The Qatar government has rejected any claims of wrongdoing as “gravely misinformed”.

Kaili’s lawyers have said that she is innocent and will fight the charges.

The four were arrested last week as Belgian police conducted a series of searches on the homes and offices of politicians, lobbyists and parliamentary assistants, seizing around 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in cash.

All four had been due to appear together in a pre-trial hearing in Brussels on Wednesday to discover whether they were to remain in custody pending their eventual trial and as the investigation continues. But Kaili’s Brussels lawyer, Andre Risopoulos, said she had been unable to attend the hearing because of a staff strike at her detention centre, and that her case would be separated from that of her alleged accomplices.

They are her partner, Francesco Giorgi, former MEP turned lobbyist Pier Panzeri and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, who leads the human rights pressure group “No Peace without Justice”.

“The case has been split,” Risopoulos said, adding that she was now expecting a custody hearing on December 22.

Earlier, Kaili’s lawyer in Athens, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, insisted that she was innocent and “did not know of the existence” of the cash found at her Brussels home. Dimitrakopoulos suggested Kaili’s Italian boyfriend, Giorgi, might have “answers about the existence of this cash”.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2022