Untold: Opus Dei - Power for Sale, Ep. 1: 'Bags full of money'

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Valentina learns of raids and arrests at the European parliament and a scandal unfolds. They talk to the face of the scandal, Eva Kaili, and hear about the day of the raids through her eyes.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I remember where I was, when I heard the news. It was a Friday in Brussels, and I was in my apartment surrounded by boxes. I was packing up 10 years of my life. After reporting on the European Union for over a decade, I had been promoted, and my new job was in London. I should have probably been out with friends, watching the World Cup quarterfinals,

but I'd been procrastinating. In the background, Brazil and Croatia dicted it out on my TV set. But then, this news alert popped up on my phone. It said, raids and arrests at the European Parliament. Vice President of the European Parliament has been arrested. It's a series of raids on properties across Brussels. A senior member of the European Parliament

and three EU officials have been charged with corruption, money laundering and participating in a criminal organisation. Prosecutors have been. searched 16 houses and seized $631,800 in Brussels as part of the probe. They reportedly found bags of cash. A suitcase filled with 600,000 euros in cash. Several people accused of receiving money and gifts from a Gulf state. The state in question is widely reported to be Qatar.

The alerts were shocking. Suitcases of cash, influenced from foreign powers and senior politicians arrested. accused of being part of a corruption ring that was secretly taking bribes from none other than the World Cup host, Qatar. This was the biggest scandal I'd ever seen. Now, members of the European Parliament have always had an image problem,

but seeing a lawmaker behind bars that never happens in Brussels. And we didn't have just one person arrested. We had eight. There were offices with crime tape across the doors. Police carrying out boxes and computers. Lawmakers and their staffers taken in for questioning. And within hours, the scandal had an official name.

Catargate. Catargate. The Catargate corruption scandal. Once the scandal had a name, it was like a damn broke. Even the president of the European Parliament came out and said something we'd never heard. before. And what is essential is that these people understand that they will get caught, that our services work and that they will face the full extent of the law, as happened in this case.

She described the target as an assault on European democracy. European democracy is under attack, and our way of open, free democratic societies are under attack. This looked like a moment where things were about to change, really change. No more foreign influence and shady dealings. No more sweeping it all under the rug. But over a year later, all suspects have been released, and the investigation has stalled. I've since packed up and moved from Brussels to London, but this scandal, this Qatar gate, doesn't feel packed up at all. It feels like unfinished business, and I just can't let this one go.

As I'm recording this, elections are coming up for the European Parliament, but this scandal has been like a gateway, opening up to bigger and bigger questions. Was there a corruption ring? Have EU lawmakers been bribed by foreign powers? Is the European Parliament for sale? I'm Valentina Pop, Europe news editor at the Financial Times. This is untold. Power for sale. Episode 1.

Bags full of money. As soon as the scandal broke at the end of 2022, the FD, like all other news organizations, jumped on it. Hey guys. Hi, guys. Hi, guys. We quickly assembled a team of reporters in Brussels, Athens, and Milan. We knew.

Yes, right. Here's what we knew. The accusation was. were that Qatari officials had paid bribes to lawmakers and other well-connected people in the EU to whitewash the fact that many workers had died building the World Cup stadiums. We wanted to know more about the people involved. And to do that, we knew where to start, because there was one person whose name was all over the news.

Eva Kiley has been stripped of her powers. The most high profile of those charged is Eva Kiley. Eva Kaili. Eva Kaili is a very famous person in Greece. Eleni is our FT correspondent in Greece, and she was actually the most familiar with Eva's background. She was a rising EU star, as many would call her. She was the first female Greek MEP to become a vice president.

She started young. Eva started her career as a TV anchor in Athens, before getting into politics. She won a seat in the European Parliament in 2014. And 2022 had been a good year for Eva. In January, she was elected as one of 14 vice presidents in the European Parliament, a rare honor for a young female lawmaker from Greece. And it's worth saying, she had a pretty decent Instagram following.

People were kind of enamored with her. She had a star quality in her. She was regularly photographed in bars, restaurants in Athens, in the company of TV executives, famous people, socialites. And she wasn't just an MEP. People had followed her. She had a partner. Everyone was fascinated by her love life.

She'd started dating a young Italian staffer at work. And they soon became an item. His name, Francesco Georgi. Their relationship played out on social media, posting holiday pictures on yachts in the Mediterranean. they spent a pandemic together in Greece and had a child. She had given birth to a baby daughter. She was a person that people really knew.

But on the day of the raids, Eva quickly went from Rising Star to post her child of the biggest corruption scandal to hit EU politics. Her face was all over the news, and so were pictures of a suitcase full of cash coming from her apartment. She was arrested on the spot and accused of taking bribes from Qatar. I was very shocked. I could not believe it. I mean, the allegations of a politician being, you know, found with amounts of cash in their home.

And you can hear stories, but actually finding someone with bags of cash is a first, I think. And what is it that investigators say? Follow the money. It took months to get Eva to talk to us. We pestered her lawyers, her friends and family. But in the end, she agreed. She was out of jail, and now she said she wanted to tell her side of the story. We talked to Eva several times over a few months, first on the phone and then in person.

By the time we went to her flat in Brussels, it was clear. Eva had solidified her statement. And yes, we were pretty friendly with her as we were settling in. We tried asking her how Francesco was, but... I wouldn't like to look about too much of my person in her. We sat at a big table in her in Francesco's apartment. It was a simple space, IKEA furniture, a bit barren. Nothing glamorous.

She had her iPad in front of her with a document on it. She had written up what she wanted to say, and she was sticking. to it. It was wild to be sitting with Eva. We'd seen her face everywhere. She was the poster child of Qatar Gate. And now here she was telling us her side of what happened on the day of the raids. We want to take you back to December 9th. Talk us through that day. How were things before anything happened? We went downstairs and then there was like a few people waiting for us. Downstairs in the parking garage, Eva, Francesco and their daughter ran into a group of officers. They told me, it's nothing to do with her.

We just have to, I think, your husband has to come with us. I think, what is it about? They say, you can call later, we cannot say anything. And they say we have to take his car too. But Eva says she didn't realize it was the police. The men who were waiting for Francesco, they weren't in uniform. The moment you see people waiting for you that they are in plain clothes, I think it's cool. You don't know what to really expect.

So in my mind, it was like a car accident, something happened that we didn't realize. Eva says she was really upset when her partner was taken away. She went back upstairs and soon after she saw a news alert about four Italian nationals being arrested. At that point, Eva started to piece things together. and she wondered, could this have something to do with Francesco's work? I didn't know what else to do. I thought I should go to his office. It's a little place he has from his own.

It's like I don't enter. So I wanted to check if there was something to understand what's happening. So I know we have a small safe. I know he has his savings. He had some money from his salary. Panceri was withholding money from his European Parliament salary for years and he returned it to him so I knew it was a... Eva's saying that Francesco was storing hundreds of thousands of euros

in a safe in their apartment. Money that his former boss had owed him for years. This former boss was an ex-lawmaker turned lobbyist named Pierre Antonio Panzeri. We will get to Panzeri soon, but the main thing you need to know right now is that Eva's partner and Panzeri were still working closely together.

And Eva says Panzeri was paying at least part of Francesco's salary in cash. In the safe, so I knew it was money from his salary. So I don't know, I started moving things and I checked and I see back and stuff that I don't recognize, money that I don't, I understand.

of my family. According to Eva, as she's looking around in Francesco's office, she sees this bag and opens it. It has several hundred thousand euros inside. This is cash she says she wasn't aware of, but she believes this suitcase belongs to Panzeri. She takes the suitcase out of the office and freaks out. She really wants to get it out of her apartment and starts trying to get a hold of Panzeri, to get his suitcase to him. But he doesn't pick up, so... I leave the back downstairs and the entrance, and my father is coming.

I told him, listen, there must be an accident. And nothing serious, but I really need some time, so take the baby and go eat something. Eva's father is in town visiting. He's staying at a hotel nearby and arrives just as Eva's having a meltdown. When he arrives, Eva tells him, to take her daughter for a walk while she figures out what's going on. He agrees, and on his way out, he spots that suitcase. Eva says she just discovered.

He saw the bag, say, what is this? And I say nothing. This is for Panceri to pick it up. And he says, okay, you want me to leave it at the hotel so he can pick it up from there so that it's not bothering you now? That's a very, very good idea. Okay, just bear with us here. My colleague Eleni tries to clarify. So you find that bag. You have it here at the entrance. Your dad comes to pick up your daughter and do something with her.

And he sees the bag and you say, take it or he says, I will... He told me I can leave it for him to pick it up from the hotel. It's a very good idea. Our producer, Persis, jumps in here. Was Panzerri staying at the hotel? No, no, I was trying to locate him. I was trying to find him. I called him.

I was trying to find his address. And I say, I will ask him to pick it up from there. I was under the shock that I wanted to deal with what was happening with Francesco and the baby at that point. Here's what we do know. Police had arrested Panzeri that morning. He was the first person arrested. That's why he wasn't picking up Eva's calls. After Eva's father left her apartment,

Belgian spies followed him and the suitcase he was carrying to his hotel, where police arrested him later. Eva had no idea this was happening. Soon after, the police came to her door as well. And at some point, police rings the bell. They enter and they are telling and tell them I have to call my lawyer what is happening. And that's when Eva was arrested. Authorities say the bag of cash found was from Qatar,

bribe money in exchange for political favor. These were the beginning of a very weird procedure that they felt like everything was violated and I was just waiting to see when I'm going to be able to understand what's happening. In prison, the Belgian police told Eva that her father had also been arrested and threatened to have social services take her daughter. She was questioned repeatedly and at length. I wasn't allowed to talk. They were not telling me anything. That same day, the socialist group in the European Parliament, Eva's party, voted to suspend her.

Ava Carly is no longer a vice president of the European Parliament. From this moment on, Eva was, for all intents and purposes, ousted and condemned. MEPs voted to end her term in office with a vast majority of 625 votes in favour and just one against. Honestly, I'd never seen the European Parliament move so fast in condemning anything, much less anyone. Over our interviews together, we wanted to talk to Eva about Qatar Gate, about her connection to Panzeri, to Qatari officials. Had she been bribed as she's being accused of?

But the thing is, she had a different story that she wanted to tell us, one about how she had become the scapegoat for a scandal that had not nothing to do with her. Eva says that despite what the media has reported, she has facts. Facts that can explain every detail of the case against her. For example, the suitcase of cash that her father was carrying... It's money that came from Panzeri. It was Panzeri's money.

But also, Eva says it's not really a big deal. Lobbyists like Panzeri can have bags of cash floating around in Brussels. that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the European Parliament. And either way, she says, the money had nothing to do with her, even though it was in her house. This is something to discuss with Frances Campancerity, with other people. Whether or not you believe that the cash had anything to do with Eva, or whether it's normal to have bags of cash in your apartment,

that's not the only issue at hand here. Eva had also taken a sudden interest in Qatar that year and it was notable because of the timing of it all. Eva was praising Qatar for its progress on human rights, glossing completely over the fact that workers had died building the World Cup stadiums. Migrants working on infrastructure projects in the final months before the tournament have died or suffered abuse. The construction sites were said to be untenable

migrant workers were being treated as slaves. The human rights violations were staggering and subject of international attention. Qatar's relied on an army of migrant workers, toiling in temperatures of up to 120 degrees and living in crowded, squalid camps. And Eva was giving pro-Katar speeches and advocating for policies to benefit them, despite it all.

Today, the World Cup in Qatar is a proof, actually. of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historical transformation of a country with reforms that inspired the Arab world. Eleni asked Eva about this. And I ask you, you have been, when the case was presented, there were two things that were against you in a sense that you had relationship with Qatar and that you had this speech about the labor rights in Qatar

and how they are making efforts and strides. Could you explain that to us? She says her vocal support of Qatar was just the official position of the EU, and everything she was doing and saying was just part of her job. So my vote, my speech, my everything, it comes from the official policy of the EU. There is nothing that shows differently. Eva's noticeable support for Qatar came on the heels of a trip she took there, right before the World Cup.

But she says, again, just part of her job. This is called parliamentary diplomacy. It is happening always. And this is how we are building relations with other countries. Nothing to see here, Eva says. But Eva is still a suspect in this case. And Eleni asks her if she acknowledges what she's accused of. When do you realize what they are accusing you of?

I'm still trying to understand. If you could explain, like in a sentence or... No, no, seriously. I still... I'm trying to understand how am I linked to this case. Eva insists this was all blown out of proportion, and she was the real victim.

I would call it a political persecution. And Eva's convincing enough to be sure, but her explanations don't... Quite add up. We still had a suitcase of cash that had come directly out of her house. An ever-suton interest in Qatar, the country that gave the name to this scandal. We'll be back after the break. I'm Christina Cotterucci, and this season on Slow Burn.

It's called Proposition 6. The Briggs initially. John Briggs is going to fire every gay and lesbian school teacher in California. With so much at stake, young people became activist. We can't let this happen in California. And activists became leaders. Slow Burn, Season 9, Gaze Against Briggs. Out now, wherever you listen.

Eva, especially the speech that she had in Parliament, end of November, was really so Qatar propaganda that I looked at some members of her political group while she was doing that speech. And they looked flabbergasted, just like, what the hell is she doing? It was like, it was just like so absurd. This is Hannah Neumann. She's a German politician and leads the parliament's relations with the Arab Peninsula, which, among other things, focuses on human rights, especially the rights of migrant workers.

So human rights, meaning talking about political freedoms, talking about migrant workers' rights. In the lead up to the scandal, Hannah had a front row seat to Eva's behavior on Qatar. And after the scandal broke, our FT reporter Laura spoke with Hannah. So Eva, Kylie, what was it like to work with her? Did you have any interactions with her? What was she like? She was very polite, very friendly, a bit exalvert, but many politicians are. Hannah says she interacted with Eva fairly regularly.

They work together just fine. But they would have the occasional political disagreement. And there was one moment in particular where they clashed. The only time when we really had an argument was after she had traveled to Qatar while the delegation wasn't invited. So here's what happened. Hannah and some of her colleagues were invited to Qatar as a delegation ahead of the World Cup. But as Hannah was getting ready to go, she found out they all had been uninvited. And shortly after that, she heard through the grapevine that Eva was on an official diplomatic trip to Qatar.

on her own. I got a WhatsApp message from the EU ambassador to Qatar telling me that Eva Kai is in Qatar and sending me basically treats about the meetings she has. And I was just like, what the fuck? She's a member of the delegation. She knows that we have been uninvited. So how dare she go there at the same moment in time,

basically having all the meetings we were supposed to have And of course, me knowing that her assessment would not necessarily be representative of the Parliament's position. The problem here is that Eva pulled rank by accepting an individual trip when her colleagues had been barred because of their more critical views on Qatar, Hannah says. And this squared with what Hannah had already noticed, which was that Eva was very pro-Katar, even with the recent reports of migrant workers dying at the war. World Cup construction sites. I just thought the Qataris played it very smartly by uninviting the official parliament delegation

that would have been appreciative and critical and inviting someone where they know that she would be much more, I called her the propaganda mouthpiece of the Qataris. for me back then, my assessment was the Qataris played us and she let it happen. And that's why I was mad at her. We asked Eva about this. She said the president of the European Parliament had deputized her to go on this trip. But still, Hannah felt the parliament as a whole had missed a big opportunity to flag Qatar's lack of progress when it came to human rights.

and at the time, it was difficult to understand why Eva had done this. But then, Hannah got the same news alerts we all did about Qatargate. Well, when I got the news on December 9, things became more clear.

Then it was just like, okay, I was arguing with bags full of money. No way I can win that argument. Hannah says she wasn't surprised by who the other suspects were. I already knew which names would be named in the two days to come, and I was right 100%. It was a bit like a clique. This was the same group that always seemed to be heading to Qatar for diplomatic purposes.

How can it be that people continuously travel on fancy trips to Qatar and there's just no trip declared? I mean, where do they take the money from? From their own pocket, I'm sure they don't. And this was the same group that always seemed to be pressuring. Hannah and other lawmakers to take a more positive stance on Qatar. In hindsight, Hannah told us she realizes that Eva was part of this group. She must have played a bigger role than Hannah initially thought. Even though Eva herself claims that she's just doing her job,

my colleague Laura asked Hannah about this. One kind of narrative that's been portrayed in the media is that she was, you know, this very innocent character who was maybe manipulated by some of the other. suspects, do you see that as realistic? If she is that, then she's also not suitable to be an MEP. It seems like she probably did have a clue then. I find it difficult to imagine that she doesn't ask questions

if she finds Vax full of money in her apartment. There must be culturally something very wrong if you consider this to be normal. So Hannah says there is a clique, one that, that Eva must be a part of, a group that thinks suitcases of unexplained cash are normal. Who is in this group? And who runs it?

And what are they actually doing for Qatar? That's in the next episode of Power for Sale. I remember this account of Vicentini and Panzeri being together and Panzeri handing over 50,000 euros in cash. and the comment is it's like we're in Ocean's 11. Power for Sale is Season 2 of Untold, a Financial Times investigative podcast. It is produced with Goat Rodeo.

The series lead producers are Rebecca Seidel and Persis Love. Reporting by me, Valentina Pop, Laura Dubois, Sylvia Shori Liborelli, Eleni Varvigiani and Andy Bounds. Writing by me, Megan Adolsky and Rebecca Seidel. Story editing from Ian Ann Wright, Tofer Forrest and Cheryl Bromley. Executive producers for the Financial Times are Tofer Forges and Cheryl Brumley. Executive producers for Goat Rodeo are Ian Enright and Megan Nadolsky. Mixing, editing and sound design by Rebecca Seidel.

The music in the intro to this episode is Schubert's Schwanengesan, the Kate Simco rework. Additional music from Ian Enright and Rebecca Seidel. tutorial and production assistance from Alex Parker, Judith Evans, Isabel Kirby McGowan, Joshua Gabor Doyong, Andrew Giorgiadis, Tamara Komornek, Misha Frankel-Douvald-Douval, Edwin Lane, Guilmosoriente and Laura Clark. If you want to share a tip in relation to this podcast, please get in touch at valentina.pop at fd.com. Thank you to the many sources who share their stories with us for this series.

And thanks for listening.