Brussels, 18 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – A key figure in a corruption investigation in the European Parliament is to receive a five-year sentence, most of which will be suspended, his lawyer told Belgian TV station RTL on Wednesday.

Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former EU lawmaker from Italy, signed a cooperation agreement with the Belgian state prosecutor on Tuesday after being arrested on accusations of participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.

The sentence would be “set by the judge taking into account the period of custody,” lawyer Laurent Kennes told RTL.

Panzeri will remain in prison or under electronic surveillance for one year, Kennes said.

In return for a reduced sentence, Panzeri is to make “substantial, revealing, truthful and complete statements” about the corruption probe linked to Qatar, including his own involvement and other participants, a statement by Belgium’s state prosecutor read.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that Panzeri’s sentence will include “the confiscation of all assets acquired, currently estimated at 1 million euros.”

Panzeri was arrested in December together with then European Parliament vice-president Eva Kaili and two others.

The suspects are accused of having influenced decisions in the European Parliament in favour of football World Cup host Qatar in return for money and gifts, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Panzeri is to give details about the financial arrangements with other involved countries, the financial structures set up, and “the identity of the persons he admits to having bribed.”

The Belgian state prosecutor describes Panzeri as “one of the important key figures” in the case.

Kaili is expected in court in Brussels on Thursday for a custody hearing.

EU lawmakers voted on Wednesday for Marc Angel, a socialist EU lawmaker from Luxembourg, to replace Kaili as vice-president, who was removed from her post following her arrest.

Angel obtained 307 votes, exceeding the required 296 votes for an absolute majority, from fellow legislators in the second round of voting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

Angel won out against two other candidates, Annalisa Tardino from the Italian right-wing party Lega who received 185 votes and Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, a French lawmaker for the Greens, who got 98 votes.

Angel is to be one of 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament.