ATHENS — European parliamentarians could soon expect a reunion with their colleague Eva Kaili.
Five months after being arrested by Belgian police as part of the ongoing investigation into corruption allegations that rocked the European Parliament, EU lawmaker Eva Kaili now intends to return to work.
A day after the Belgian prosecutor’s office announced that the once-feted EU lawmaker is no longer under house arrest, Kaili’s lawyers said she’s set to resume her duties at the European Parliament.
“As of today … Eva Kaili is free to leave her residence and to fully exercise all her rights and obligations, deriving from her status as a member of the European Parliament,” her lawyers Sven Mary and Michalis Dimitrakopoulos said in a joint statement.
“The restrictive condition of the ban on leaving Belgium, which was imposed, does not upset her, since Kaili will return to Greece only after her judicial vindication,” they said, adding that “the evidence that documents Kaili’s innocence is increasing every day.”
However, as this restriction also prevents her from traveling to Strasbourg in France for the European Parliament’s plenary sessions, she still cannot fully exercise her duties as an EU lawmaker.
Dimitrakopoulos confirmed to POLITICO that she still can’t travel to Strasbourg, but said this will be resolved soon.
Kaili was one of the first to be arrested last December in raids by the Belgian police as they launched a sprawling investigation into whether foreign countries, including Qatar and Morocco, had been involved in bribing EU lawmakers. It came to be known as Qatargate.
After her detention was prolonged several times, she was moved from jail to house arrest with an electronic monitor in mid-April, pending trial.
By removing her electronic tag, Kaili will be able to move freely and join other former Qatargate detainees such as Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, who also recently had court-ordered monitoring removed and was seen back at the European Parliament this week.
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