Eva Kaili, former EP vice-president, has made a partial confession, admitting that that she instructed her father to hide a large part of the cash found in her apartment during subsequent house searches, the French-language Belgian daily La Libre Belgique reported on Tuesday.

During her police hearing on Tuesday, the detained Greek socialist MEP made a partial confession regarding the assignment she gave her father, who was arrested as he was leaving a Brussels hotel with a suitcase filled with cash, the daily reported on its website.

Eva Kaili and three other suspects were arrested on 9 December as part of on investigation into corruption launched by Belgian authorities. Nearly 1.5 million euros were seized in the corruption case during house searches in the Brussels region, according to information from the Belgian police.

Among the detainees is Francesco Giorgi, Kaili’s Italian boyfriend, who worked as an assistant to a Belgian Socialist MEP, Maria Arena. Mr Giorgi admitted in his testimony last week that he was part of a lobbying organisation which was used by both Morocco and Qatar to interfere in European Parliament decisions.

The defendants also include Nicolo Figa-Talamanca, director of the NGO No Peace Without Justice, and former Italian Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, who is currently president of the Brussels-based NGO Fight Impunity.

The former vice-president of the European Parliament, who is being held in the women’s section of Haren prison in Belgium, and her colleagues are due to appear in court on Thursday 22 December. Whether they will remain in custody until the trial begins will be decided at the hearing. The charges against them are involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption. On Thursday, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the waiver of the immunity of the former vice-president of the EP.