The vice president of the European Parliament, the Greek Eva Kaili /
The Greek Eva Kaili is accused of corruption and money laundering, in a plot that involves another MEP and several parliamentary assistants
The corruption plot within the European Parliament, with alleged payments and gifts from Qatar to “relevant” people who could influence their decision-making, is on its way to becoming one of the biggest scandals of the European institution. On Saturday, the Belgian Prosecutor’s Office announced that four of the six arrested in Friday’s raid in Brussels have been charged and among them is the vice president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili.
The socialist MEP of Greek origin is, so far, the highest charge involved in the case. She remains in jail and is accused – like the other defendants – of “membership of a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Kaili was unable to benefit from her parliamentary immunity as police arrested her “in flagrante delicto” on Friday. According to the Belgian press, the MEP was carrying “bags full of money” at the time of her arrest. The MEP’s father was also stopped shortly after with a suitcase full of cash, as he was leaving a hotel in Brussels, but he was released yesterday.
The MEP was questioned last night and, after 48 hours in police custody, the judge in charge of the investigation concluded that there was evidence to charge four of the six detainees. Among them is Kaili’s partner – parliamentary adviser Francesco Giorgi – and former MEP António Panzeri, at whose home the Belgian police found up to 600,000 euros in cash. The general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Luca Visentini, was finally released on parole.
fired immediately
The scandal, now known as ‘Qatargate’, also affects Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella, whose address was searched on Saturday night. Given the seriousness of the implications for the European Parliament, its president, Roberta Metsola, traveled from Malta to Brussels on Saturday to follow the course of the investigations. Metsola suspended “with immediate effect” from her functions the vice president and Tarabella and expressed her “full cooperation with the police and judicial authorities.”
The Central Office for the fight against corruption in Brussels has been preparing this operation for four months in which 16 addresses of people related to the European Parliament have been registered. It is suspected that Qatar would have paid “significant” bribes and would have made “significant gifts to people with a decisive position” in the European institution to “influence political and/or economic decisions,” the prosecution reported.
The MEP was carrying “bags of money” at the time of her arrest, according to the Belgian press
In this sense, the Social Democratic group (S&D) – of which the majority of detainees are a part – expressed its “zero tolerance” with corruption and asked that the work and votes related to the Gulf States be suspended in the plenary session of the European Parliament. .
Since it was announced that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup, the European Parliament has debated on several occasions about human rights violations in the Arab country. In a television interview in October, MEP Marc Tarabella defended that the country “has made a lot of efforts, especially in terms of human rights”, while assuring that boycotting it “is hypocrisy”.
All eyes are now focused on the plenary session of the European Parliament this week in Strasbourg. The group of the Left has already announced that it will request to add a statement from the European Commission on ‘Qatargate’.