MEPs Jailed and Released in Qatargate Corruption Scandal

Eva Kaili, a Greek MEP charged with participation in a criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering, has been kept in pre-trial detention in the Haren prison in Brussels since her arrest on 9 December. Her lawyer has accused Belgian authorities of keeping her behind bars as a "trophy" and using her detention as a means of pressure to extract confessions. Kaili's detention is based on just two elements: Pier Antonio Panzeri's confession and the phone call Kaili made to her father on 9 December, when she allegedly asked him to remove the bags of cash she had just found out in her apartment.