Untold: Opus Dei - Power for Sale, Ep. 4: Business as Usual

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

With elections just weeks away, and news of more foreign interference scandals in the European parliament, the reporting team gives an accounting of where the investigation and the suspects are to date.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 2024, hundreds of millions of Europeans will go to the polls to elect a new European Parliament in what are the largest transnational elections in the world. By the end of 2024, there will be a new leadership in the European Union. As I'm recording this, we are just days ahead of European Parliament elections. But the Qatar Gate scandal is far from over. No suspect has had their day in court. and we still haven't seen any significant changes to how members of the European Parliament

interact with foreign governments. Qatar Gate could have been a wake-up call, but instead, the European Parliament went back to business as usual. And for Qatar, this seems to have been a pretty good deal. They got a successful World Cup and a public that's mostly forgotten about the deaths of migrant workers. Then, it turned out,

they weren't the only country suspected of bright, lawmakers. With European Parliament elections just six weeks away, fears amounting that democracy in the EU could be under threat from spies. Across Western Europe, anxiety about Chinese spying is growing. The EU leaders are sound of the alarm of potential Russian interference in the upcoming European parliamentary elections. Belgium is investigating a pro-Russian influence network suspected of operating at the heart of the European institutions in Brussels. There have been real consequences to the EU not cleaning up its act. Kataragate should have put a stop to scandals at the European Parliament,

but instead there's been raid after raid. More foreign interference scandals involving Russia and China broke in 2024. First, in January, a Latvian politician and 20-year veteran of the European Parliament was accused of being a Russian spy. Longtime Latvian MEP Tatjana Dhanoka has been accused of spying for the Kremlin. She denies it, but she's now been sanctioned and fined by the European Parliament. Then in March, news broke of an alleged Russian influence operation in Europe, paying politicians to peddle pro-Kremlin propaganda and get more Moscow-friendly lawmakers elected.

It should be a celebration of European democracy, but officials are concerned that Russia is attempting to influence the EU. outcome. In April, a staffer for a German far-right MEP was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing. A German authorities busted an A to a European Parliament member on suspicion of spying for China. And there's no sign of this slowing down. Just a week ago, at the end of May, even more raids took place at the European Parliament. Another staffer for the far right is suspected of being part of the Russian influence operation. His office has been sealed off. We went there to see for ourselves.

Here we are again in the European Parliament, looking at a raided office. Those of boxes in the corridor. Yeah, actually some security officials I was talking to, they said this could be a similar scale to Katagate, maybe even bigger. So quite frankly, one would imagine that this may not be the last door

in the European Parliament's getting knocked on by the police in the next few weeks. The reaction of Parliament, Parliament took a target was that it was an isolated case, involving a few individuals, not a systemic problem. But with all these recent revelations, that gets harder and harder to accept us true. And as more scandals pile on, how will the new Parliament convince citizens that it's not ultimately for sale?

From the Financial Times, I'm Valentina Pop, and this is Power for Sale. Episode 4. Business as usual. Throughout our reporting, we've been looking for answers, an explanation for all the bags of cash found in the Qatar Gate raids. We contacted all of the suspects and people who seem to be caught up in Panzeri's web. But there were too many voices to fit in this series. Most of the ones who spoke to us denied having done anything wrong.

Other suspects in this case, have commented to media in their own countries, maintaining that they're also innocent. To date, I don't have a specific accusation against me. Honestly, I don't think they even believe that I'm guilty of anything. Maria Rana, when there is close contact in the European Parliament, declined to comment for this podcast. But Arenda has publicly claimed her innocence,

saying she never took any money from Panzeri. You never accepted bribes or money or favors from, let's say, Qatar or Morocco? No. No. Luca Viscentini, the trade unit boss, admits to taking the money, but says that he thought it was Panzeri's own donor. for his election campaign. Vicentini says he didn't know the money he took from Panzeri, came from Qatar. Ali bin Samigal-Marie, whose contacts with Panzeri go back to 2018, is still the Minister

of Labor in Qatar. In a statement to the Financial Times, a Qatari official said that the Gulf State is in full compliance with international law and follows the rules whenever it works with other international institutions. They also criticized the overall investigation and said it was a politically motivated campaign aimed at tarnishing Qatar's image. Prosecutors have issued and recalled international arrest warrants for Almari multiple times. And Panzeri, Il Capo, he also didn't want to talk, but he's still in Brussels. He's not allowed to leave Belgium. As long as the review of the investigation is ongoing, whether Panzeri's confession was coerced, how evidence was gathered, on what basis

Eva was arrested, the whole case remains in limbo. Not even Panzeri's plea deal has been finalized. Remember Judge Kless's conflict of interest? It turns out that has given due cause for suspects to question everything about how the investigation was carried out. So we're at a point where we can't say for sure whether or not Panzeri ran a corruption ring in the European Parliament. But some of the evidence is out there and everyone is just putting their own spin on it,

so it works in their defense. The fact that they're all explaining this cash in a different way and the fact that they haven't ended up in trial yet, it's hard to decide who is lying and who is telling the full truth. Sylvia, our correspondent in Milan, has been keeping up with the Italian side of the investigation. She reached out to Francesco, Eva's partner, who has admitted to some of the accusations

when he was being interrogated. Francesco Georgi partially confessed. Francesco did not want to be interviewed for this podcast, but he sent us his legal statement in which he admits to having handled and stored Panzeri's cash, in his and Eva's flat. In the statement, he says that Panzeri stored more than 800,000 euros in their apartment. And that Panzeri said there was more stored in the homes of others. Francesco says Panzeri's speech to foreign governments was that he was able to influence the EU's

decisions. We weren't able to independently verify this, but Francesco also said Panzeri had secured 4.5 million euros from Qatar to be paid out over five years. According to Francesco, Eva did not know what he was up to with Panzeri. When he came out of jail, he said he was under a lot of pressure. He was being threatened. He knew his partner, Eva Kiley, was in jail. He claims she was never part of the story or of this case, and he did not

want her to be dragged into the situation. Francesco says he was young and naive, and doing things for Panzeri he shouldn't have been doing. But he doesn't admit to having taken any bribes. Well, of course, Francesco Georgi, like everyone else who was involved in this case, now hope it will never go to trial. And I think that is the whole point. And without a day in court to establish who is telling the truth,

the mind of the public wanders. It just calls into question, you know, how many levels of corruption and unethical behavior are there. And it probably starts very small with dinners or gifts, and then it becomes a trip, and then it just escalates.

And there must have been cases where it has escalated out of control. Well, here we are back at the EP, just before the elections. Andy and Laura, our correspondents in Brussels, are walking the halls of the European Parliament, the place where it all started. Do you think we need a full-time correspondent based here now?

Well, you're the parliament correspondent, so that will be you. Andy covers the European Parliament for DFT, and he's in the building all the time. Back in April, he stopped by Eva's old office. There was a new person there. So now, this is it here, yeah. Hello. Very sorry to trouble you.

Yes. This was where she had an office before. Yeah, this was the office, but it's not anymore. Now, I understand that. Yeah, we're from the Financial Times. Yes. But Eva was in the building. She'd been demoted to a smaller office on another floor.

And while she was still a suspect, she was back at work, wrapping up the remainder of her term. Hello. Hello. Hi. Hi. Hi. I thought you would not tell me.

Hello. How are you? Hi. Eva's office was full of boxes. She said, She might be moving to Italy to live with Francesco and their daughter. Eva's statement remains the same. She says she never took any money from Panzeri.

And even if she did, there would have been nothing wrong with it. As for her political future, Eva says, she's considering a comeback at some point. Neither Eva nor the other lawmakers who are suspects in Katargate are standing in these elections. But other than that, there seem to be a comeback. have been few consequences for the accused lawmakers. The fact that nothing has been resolved has made the Targate seem almost like one big joke. I mean, we were all under suspicion all of a sudden, you know.

I think we all probably got things in our constituencies, you know, jokes about, and do you have a suitcase as well? This is Daniel Freund. He's an MEP with the Green Party. Within Parliament, Daniel specializes. in anti-corruption work. I mean, we have a certain division of labor in the parliament. Some people work on agriculture, others work on transport,

I work on anti-corruption and democracy issues. Daniel only saw one thing when Qatargate happened, an opportunity to put in place rules that actually prevent corruption within the European Parliament. And from Daniel's perspective, there was a real effort to make changes at first. The immediate step was everyone was in favor or was at least not willing to be seen as standing in the way of any of the necessary steps. When it then came to translating that into concrete new rules, all of a sudden the opposition came back strongly.

But according to Daniel, there was a lot of resistance from most of the MAPs to adopt tougher rules. There have been frustrating developments on pretty much. every rule change that we have introduced. And Daniel says, Parliament doing so little in the face of this scandal leaves voters unwilling to take elections seriously. It's a fallout that's palpable, but hard to quantify. And that's the loss of faith in democratic institutions.

I fear that we haven't done enough yet to fully start to heal some of the damage that has been caused to the institution. and I think quite honestly through the EU as a whole. And the feeling that there are people in Brussels that take cash is unfortunately too widespread. This is the most dangerous fallout from this scandal because cynicism about elections only encourages candidates

who have no qualms about monetizing their position in parliament. I fear too many members here think that they can get away with. You don't really have to change anything. Who's going to remember? that was like so long ago and whether voters actually you know take a decision at the ballot box based on this, some question that.

And without getting sanctioned by voters at the ballot box, Daniel says there's no incentive for politicians to clean up their act. But Daniel still holds some glimmer of hope that despite all difficulties, the Belgians will be able to prosecute, even if it's hard to prove corruption. I mean, Al Capone was ultimately put away for tax fraud, right?

It's often the one thing that you then can prove. I hope very much that there is a case that can be proven. I think it would be damaging for the European Parliament if this whole case collapsed in the end. 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, a school teacher in California. With so much at stake, young people became activists. We can't let this happen in California. And activists became leaders. Slow Burn, Season 9. Gaze Against Briggs.

Out now, wherever you listen. I lost my job the same day that this issue happened. So I stayed several months without working. I was completely also in a sort of paranoia. because when you read everything, you have the impression that it was like a spy story and you feel involved in a spy story and you also start questioning yourself,

what am I doing? Did I do something wrong? Why also police came to my house? I mean, I paid a huge price. This is someone who worked for Panzeri's NGO in Brussels, fight impunity. She asked not to be named, so we will call her Michelle. In December of 2022,

when plain-clothes policeman approached her in the street with a warrant, Michelle didn't believe what was happening. And then they showed me the police card and they showed me the mandate saying that they were doing this investigation and they had to check my house because they were investigating concerning this person and I saw the name of Mr. Panseri

and I was quite surprised. My first question to them was, did you not take the wrong person? And I said, we don't think so. Still in shock, but cooperative, Michelle walked back home with the policeman. And then, I mean, I said, okay, this is my apartment, do whatever you have to do. Then they took the computers, pen drives, I think, and also a document. Michelle says the day of the raids was the worst day of her life. I know I can't talk about this.

It's just that it's something very traumatic that I'm still trying to accept and working on this. That's the thing about corruption allegations. Everyone pays the price. Everyone gets tainted. It makes everyone seem dirty, not just the main suspects. even the people who said they really believed in the work they were doing. And for Michelle, even though she worked closely with Panzeri leading up to Qatar Gate, it didn't cross her mind to question what fight impunity was really about.

But it didn't seem strange to you that he was going to Qatar with Wendy and he didn't tell you what the trips were about? No, because, you know, I mean, I'm not the Pansari babysitter, so I don't have to know everything about this. life as he doesn't have to know everything about mine. So I was just doing my work. Michelle says she enjoyed working with Banzari. So it was quite like all the politicians with a huge ego.

But I had a very good relation in terms that we were quite frank among each other. And when I disagree concerning something, I felt absolutely comfortable to say. I don't think that we should put the focus on this or we should put the focus on that. And Michelle believed in the mission of fight impunity. She says she wanted to improve human rights globally. I was trying all the time to make links with the other organization to amplify voices concerning the same issue, the human rights issue, the impunity issues. And that's what she thought she was doing.

Michelle thought that fight impunity did have a strategy to improve migrant labor rights in Catul. So the idea was to try to have follow-up after the World Cup. We wanted to organize a conference concerning the soft power that can be also the FIFA and sports. She says Shia and Panzeri discussed shining a light on countries using sports to whitewash their image, and that they agreed to focus on this after the World Cup had ended. But all that turned out not to be real. You feel also that, you know, it's like a job.

It's a sort of when these kind of things happen you have the impression that everything that you have done is fake. Processing what Panzeri did and what it meant has been really difficult for Michelle. She went on for

months feeling paranoid and not herself. For a while she was unable to look for another job. Had she had a fake job, who would hire her now? And was this how business was being done? in the world of human rights advocacy? And then she heard from Panzeri.

He'd just been released. It was April 2023. And he asked if Michelle would meet him. And you know, the first impression you have is, okay, I'm going to talk to him and I will say everything that I want. And then you see this old man with a lot of problems that was realizing that he did a huge mistake. During their meeting, Panzeri did something,

sort of surprising. He asked Michelle to forgive him. After all these months of personal agony, Michelle says she forgave Panzeri, not because she felt she was the person who could absolve him, but because she wanted to turn the page and move on with her life. I try to remember every day that humanity is very important. I work on human rights issue, so I decided to forgive this person and, you know, forgiving someone, it doesn't. It doesn't, doesn't mean that you are justifying someone for his actions. I mean, this story has been a tragedy, despite the mistakes that everybody have done.

It's a human tragedy for all the actors involved. When I first heard about this scandal, I hope this would turn out to be just a story about a few bad apples, about a former lawmaker turned lobbyist, taking cash to Whitewash Qatar's image ahead of the World Cup. But that's not what happened. It's now become a story about greed and influence and a culture of impunity

that has allowed European lawmakers, like Eva, to look you in the eye and say that bags of cash are normal. Money is not illegal. It depends. How did you get them? What for if you paid your taxes? This is how it goes. And that lobbying is part of the political process

and can benefit European citizens. It's a good thing to be able to listen to different opinions and interests and to trust that your politicians will do what's best for you. Maybe Eva believes her defense. Maybe she believes the European Parliament is doing just fine. And maybe she doesn't. But so far, this case remains unresolved. And Qatar Gate was certainly a crisis wasted.

Instead of seizing the opportunity to reform, the European Parliament still does not ban lawmakers. to hold side jobs. There is no external policing of their behavior. The culture is very much the same, and it has shown how vulnerable European democracy is. And with every single one of these scandals, citizens believe less and less in this institution

that was set up specifically to pacify a continent and bring about democracy. This institution embodies European reconciliation. Its 705 directly elected members are the expression of European public opinion. Not all MEPs are cut from the same cloth. Some do stand up for what is right instead of what is lucrative.

And the more such lawmakers get voted in, the more there is a chance for the next parliament to repair the damage that's been done by Qatargate. The choice is in voters. hands. Power for sale is season two 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 Pops, Laura Dubois, Sylvia Shori Li Borelli, Eleni Varviciotti and Andy Bounds. Writing by me, Megan Adolsky and Rebecca Seidel. Story editing from Ian Enright Toff

Forrethas and Cheryl Bromley. Executive producers for the Financial Times are Tofer Forges and Cheryl Bromley. Executive producers for Goat Rodeo are Ian Enright and Megan Nadolsky. Mixing, editing and sound design by Rebecca Seidel. Editorial and production assistants from Alex Parker, Judith Evans, Isabel Kirby McGowan, Joshua Gabor Doyong, Andrew Georgiades, Tamara Komorneck, Misha Frankel Duval, Edwin Lane, Puyelmosoriente, and Laura Clark.

Special thanks to Nigel Hanson, Gavin Kalman and Michael Lello. If you want to share a tip in relation to this podcast, please get in touch at valentina.pop.fd.com. Thank you to the many sources who shared their stories with us for this series. And thanks for listening.