Eva Kaili, a well-known Greek politician and European Parliament Vice President, was arrested last week by Belgian police in a bribery and corruption case. So far, investigators have revealed she is suspected of accepting large sums of money and illicit lobbying in favor of Qatar, the controversial host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Following her apprehension by authorities, she has since been stripped of her official duties in both the Greek and EU Parliaments.
The controversial Greek business tycoon Victor Pisante, currently undergoing a slew of financial and criminal probes by Greek, Swiss and Dutch authorities, is now under investigation for partaking in the bribery scandal.
According to a senior Greek FIU official speaking on condition of anonymity, “Victor Pisante, a close friend of Eva and her father Alexandros Kaili is suspected of “delivering large amounts of cash to Eva’ s father in Brussels and Athens for the purpose of bribing certain Members of the European Parliament”.
Ms. Kaili and her father were included in a widespread sting and arrest operation last Friday, which subsequently included a raid on 16 locations throughout Brussels within the span of a 24-hour period. According to police investigators, 1.5m Euros in cash was confiscated from the Kaili family homes during the operation.
Victor Pisante’s involvement with Eva Kaili just adds more misery to his demise which already stooped to new lows a few weeks ago after it was revealed that he allegedly obstructed a Greek police investigation regarding a gangrape case in which two of his business associates, Vassilis Leventis and Evagoras Leventis were arrested and stood trial for. The case outraged the Greek #METOO movement and greatly damaged Mr. Pisante’s personal reputation.
Over the past few years Victor Pisante has been hit with a multitude of scandals and accusations including bribery, obstruction of justice, and money laundering. Mr. Pisante was also recently investigated for “money-laundering” and “tax evasion” by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) of the Netherlands, and by the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) over allegations that he assisted Russian Oligarch Mikhail Pecherskiy in laundering millions of Euros through the Cayman Islands.
According to a senior official at the Hellenic Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Greek Authority tasked with Anti-Money Laundering investigations of criminal and terrorist networks, “Victor Pisante is being investigated for alleged involvement in money laundering on behalf of the MP Kaili and her close family members”. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case confirmed, “This is a joint investigation between the FIU, the NIS (the Greek National intelligence Service) and our partners in the Netherlands, Switzerland and EUROPOL”.
The high-level political connections of Victor Pisante have been reported extensively in the media lately with recent stories claiming he had been funding Felix Bitzios, a Greek political operative named multiple times by international media as a key figure in the ‘Predator’ spyware scandal.
The scandal made global headlines following numerous allegations that Greek authorities were using the ‘Predator’ spyware to illegally hack mobile phones of journalists and innocent citizens.
The political and financial future does not look bright for Victor Pisante. The companies that he owns or is a partner with include Blue House Capital Hellas SA, VYB Investment Managers GP Ltd., the Telesis Group, SIDMA Steel SA, Central European Infrastructure Finance Ltd., Click here! along with several other EU entities and offshore companies.
The market confidence in Mr. Pisante being able to maintain his positions in these companies has plunged even further due to the newest allegations regarding money laundering with Eva Kaili and her father.
The next few weeks will determine if Victor Pisante will face additional criminal charges. In the meantime, many of his corporate shareholders have begun to publicly question the implications of his investigations and calculate the potential financial liability.