EU court rules in favour of Eva Kaili in access-to-documents case

The European Union’s General Court has annulled a decision by the European Parliament that denied former MEP Eva Kaili access to documents linked to suspected misuse of parliamentary assistant allowances, ruling that the Parliament acted improperly in withholding the files.

Kaili, who is also a key suspect in the ongoing Qatargate corruption scandal, had requested the documents under the EU’s transparency regulation. However, in July 2023, the European Parliament rejected her request, citing concerns that disclosure could interfere with related legal proceedings.

In its judgment issued on Wednesday, the Luxembourg-based court found that the European Parliament had misapplied EU transparency rules and failed to justify its refusal. The court stated that the documents in question were not drawn up for the ongoing proceedings and did not reflect internal positions on the specific legal case involving Kaili.

“The subject matter of the documents is different from the case file against the applicant,” the court ruled. “Access to the requested documents cannot be refused on the grounds of protecting court proceedings.”

Kaili, 46, a former Greek MEP who served from 2014 and was vice president of the European Parliament in 2022, was arrested in December 2022 on preliminary charges of corruption, money laundering, and participation in a criminal organisation, as part of the Qatargate investigation into foreign influence in Brussels.

Following her arrest, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested the lifting of her parliamentary immunity, based on a report by the EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) which cited alleged irregularities in assistant salaries. The European Parliament unanimously approved the lifting of her immunity in February 2023.

Kaili’s lawyer, Spyros Pappas, had previously described the legal actions against her as unjustified, arguing that the OLAF investigation had been concluded and referred to past events.