March 14, (THEWILL) – The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has removed Luca Visentini as its General Secretary after he admitted to accepting payments from Pier Antonio Panzeri, a central figure in the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament.
The Italian was arrested in December as part of the investigation, which involves the Moroccan and Mauritanian Governments. Although Visentini has denied any wrongdoing, the ITUC board suspended him in December, and a report from the special commission and external auditors found “no evidence of donations from either Qatar or Morocco influencing the ITUC’s policies or programmes”.
Visentini admitted to receiving €50,000 from former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Panzeri’s non-profit organisation Fight Impunity for his ITUC leadership campaign. Panzeri allegedly ran the bribery ring and made a deal with prosecutors last month in return for a lighter sentence. Although Visentini had previously made positive statements about Qatari labour reforms prior to the 2022 World Cup, he has insisted he did nothing wrong.
The ITUC President, Akiko Gono, stated that the events of the past few months have caused significant damage to the ITUC’s reputation, and the organisation is determined to protect itself from any form of improper influence. The ITUC federates 338 unions in 168 countries and territories.
Meanwhile, the Qatari Government, which hosted the most recent FIFA World Cup from November 20 to December 18, has been accused of bribing European Parliament officials, lobbyists and their families. The Qatari Government has denied any involvement in the scandal.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
