An Italian court on Monday was deciding whether to hand over to Belgium a suspect in a big corruption scandal at the European Parliament, in which Belgian prosecutors suspect the wife and daughter of a former lawmaker of being part of a criminal gang trying to influence EU legislators on behalf of Qatar and Morocco.
According to arrest warrants seen Monday by The Associated Press, former EU lawmaker Pier Antonio Panzeri and three other suspects were charged on Dec. 9 with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. Belgian prosecutors suspect that they “were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament’s decisions.”
