European Parliament – Corruption: Sultana Khaya victim of the “Moroccogate” affair

Sultana Khaya ha sido víctima de este vasto escándalo de corrupción en el Parlamento Europeo en el que está implicado Marruecos

ROME – APS.dz – “Moroccogate” continues to give up its secrets with each passing day, this time the Saharawi human rights activist, Sultana Khaya, allegedly a victim of this vast corruption scandal in the European Parliament (EP) in which Morocco is implicated, has been rejected for the EP’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Continuing the “Moroccogate” saga, the Italian newspaper “Il fatto quotidiano” – quoting investigators from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brussels – reported that the Moroccan regime’s interference was not limited to influencing EP decisions concerning Morocco, but also involved “appointing members of EP committees dealing with sensitive issues for the Maghreb country”, as well as “candidates for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought”.

Looking at the list presented by various political groups, “we note that in 2021 the Left Group proposed Sultana Khaya, Saharawi human rights activist and defender of the independence of occupied Western Sahara, to be included in the trio of finalists”.

With the complicity of European deputies in the pay of Morocco, who exerted pressure in the EP, the Saharawi activist was deprived of this prize, while she was under house arrest with her sister and mother in occupied Boujdour.

On this subject, Sultana Khaya told the same newspaper of her joy at having been nominated for this prize while she was under house arrest, before expressing her disappointment on hearing of her defeat, saying she was “not at all surprised”.

“From the beginning, I believed that the Moroccan government would push to change the result of the vote,” she said.

“This candidacy has been very useful for me. We needed someone who would literally save our lives. This candidacy seemed to me to be an important link to the outside world,” the activist described.

She continued: “After the rape of which I was a victim, to discover that behind my defeat for the Sakharov Prize may be the manoeuvring of emissaries of the Moroccan government, with the complicity of European parliamentarians, is like being raped a second time. If so, it would be a serious violation of human rights.

With this prize, “our cause would have been better known throughout the world”, since the principal objective of the Saharawi people is still independence, he underlined.

Questioned on this scandal within the EP, Sultana Khaya said she was pleased that it had come to light. “The world knows now that Morocco is forced to buy parliamentarians to cover up its violations against us. This is a victory for my people,” she said.

Rabat after the appointment of Eva Kaili and Andrea Cozzolino

But that is not all. Rabat also allegedly intervened in the “modification of the EP’s annual report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy”, but also in the appointment of MEPs to certain key posts in the European institution.

In fact, Makhzen operated within the committee set up to investigate Pegasus, bribing MEP Andrea Cozzolino, one of the members of the parliamentary committee charged with investigating the use of spyware.

According to the paper – based on a document dated 29 July – investigators hypothesise that the election of Eva Kaili to the vice-presidency of the European Parliament was supported by corrupt former Italian MP Pier Antonio Panzeri and his team.

An extract from this document supports this hypothesis, with “an investigation into a network working on behalf of Morocco, developing an activity of interference in the European institutions through the corruption of persons in key positions in the institutional world, principally within the EP”, referring to

Eva Kaili. “The policy of the parliamentary group S&D (Socialists and Democrats) will have been influenced by Morocco. An influence which “reached the decisions of the European Parliament in favour of Morocco on several occasions”.

The researchers refer to “numerous texts of resolutions voted on”, but also to “several statements by the delegation for the Maghreb”, i.e. the one led by Panzeri for eight years, from 2009 to 2017.

Meanwhile, the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office is continuing its investigations. Analysis of the PCs found in the offices of parliamentary assistants reveals anomalies concerning certain appointments.