Famend Congolese physician and Nobel Prize winner Denis Mukwege on Monday performed down his position at one of many NGOs ensnared within the snowballing Brussels lobbying scandal involving alleged bribes from Qatar and Morocco.
Mukwege, well-known for treating survivors of sexual violence at his Panzi Hospital within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sat on the honorary board of the human rights group Fight Impunity, established in 2019 by former Italian Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, who’s now in jail pending trial in relation to the scandal.
Combat Impunity is among the many teams on the coronary heart of the so-called Qatargate corruption allegations, centered on whether or not Qatar and Morocco purchased affect within the European Parliament, together with from former Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, who’s among the many 4 thus far charged in Brussels.
Mukwege is one in all an extended record of luminaries who Panzeri persuaded to affix his honorary board, lending the NGO an aura of respectability regardless of the very fact it was by no means registered within the EU’s transparency log. Former EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, as an illustration, has admitted to receiving €60,000 for his position on the honorary board.
Together with the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Mukwege additionally received the European Parliament’s 2014 Sakharov Prize for his work to fight the usage of sexual violence in wars. Different members of the board said the gynecologist’s involvement helped persuade them to enroll too.
In a press release Monday, Mukwege’s Panzi Basis mentioned it “by no means acquired monetary help from the NGO Combat Impunity; nor has our President participated in any of its conferences.” A spokesperson for Mukwege later clarified that the assertion referred to in-person conferences. Additionally they mentioned he has resigned from the honorary board.
The assertion mentioned he did take part just about in two events co-organized by Combat Impunity and the Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights associated to his push for justice within the Democratic Republic of Congo, including that the subcommittee, recognized in parliamentary shorthand as DROI, “commonly” invited him to participate in its work.
“We hope that the work of the European Parliament in selling and defending human rights all over the world shouldn’t be suspended or hindered by this scandal of corruption,” Mukwege’s assertion mentioned.
Mukwege is essentially the most high-profile board member who was but to talk out concerning the scandal that erupted on December 9 when Belgian authorities seized €1.5 million in money amid raids round Brussels and made a number of arrests.
The middle-right European Folks’s Occasion group has called for DROI’s work to be frozen pending additional investigation, a proposal strongly contested by human rights NGOs and different political groups.
DROI’s chair, Belgian Socialist MEP Maria Enviornment, has not been charged or investigated however has a number of ties to Panzeri, who ran the committee over the past parliamentary mandate. The workplace of Enviornment’s parliamentary assistant Donatella Rostagno, who additionally moonlighted for Combat Impunity, was raided by the Belgian police earlier this month.
Belgian authorities have additionally seized pc gear from the workplace of a Parliament official referred to as Mychelle Rieu, who’s the top of the DROI secretariat.
In an electronic mail to high DROI MEPs earlier this month, seen by POLITICO, Enviornment mentioned she would quickly not chair the panel’s conferences “till the information are established.” She wrote: “Mild must be shed on all wrongdoings, the accountability of everybody implicated must be established.”
The EPP has referred to as on Parliament President Roberta Metsola to formally droop her.
Enviornment has steadily championed Mukwege’s work on justice, gender-based violence and battle minerals within the DRC.
Different members of the Combat Impunity honorary board have additionally resigned for the reason that scandal broke, together with former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
“All these individuals have been tricked by hooligans,” Cazeneuve informed POLITICO.
Paul de Villepin and Sarah Wheaton contributed reporting.
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