According to an agency report, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, has been arrested in the course of investigations into suspected corruption by Qatar.
According to information from the AFP news agency, the Greek MEP and Vice-President of the EU Parliament Eva Kaili has been arrested in the course of investigations into suspected corruption by Qatar. Kaili was arrested in Brussels on Friday evening and is now being questioned by the police, according to sources familiar with the case. Previously, there had already been four arrests in the Belgian capital in the course of the investigation.
The vice-president of the European Parliament was expelled from her Greek party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Background are investigations by the Belgian public prosecutor’s office against several people on suspicion of corruption in the EU Parliament, as announced by party leader Nikos Androulakis on Friday evening. According to media reports, it is about an attempt to influence the Arab Gulf Emirate of Qatar.
16 searches in Brussels
Among the four previously arrested is a parliamentary staff member of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament (S&D), who is also the partner of Parliament Vice-President Kaili. Also arrested were former Italian Socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, the head of an NGO and a trade union leader, both also Italian citizens.
According to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, a total of 16 searches took place in Brussels, one of the places where the European Parliament works. The police confiscated data carriers and mobile phones as well as cash in the amount of around 600,000 euros.
corruption and money laundering
It is therefore determined because of “gang corruption and money laundering”. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for prosecuting organized crime and terrorism in Belgium.
According to the authority, the investigations, led by an investigating magistrate in Brussels, are about alleged efforts by a Gulf state to “influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament by paying considerable sums of money or giving significant gifts”.
(WHAT)