ALBAWABA - Belgian police arrested Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili, a European Parliament vice-president, in connection with an investigation into corruption allegedly implicating World Cup hosts Qatar, according to media reports.
AFP quoted the European prosecutors office as saying that Kaili's arrest on Friday came hours after four other suspects were detained in connection with the same case. All four were either Italian citizens or originally came from Italy, a source close to the case told AFP.
The Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament has taken the decision to suspend MEP Eva Kaili’s membership of the S&D Group with immediate effect, in response to the ongoing investigations.
— S&D Group (@TheProgressives) December 9, 2022
Kaili is allegedly the partner of one of the four, a parliamentary assistant with the European Parliament's Socialists and Democrats group, the source said, according to France 24.
It said a statement issued earlier by Belgian prosecutors pointed to a Gulf Arab country as part of its probe without identifying it, and while it said a former MEP was among those arrested did not identify him.
But Belgian press reports claimed that the country concerned was allegedly Qatar, and named the former MEP as Italy's Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who served as a socialist in the parliament between 2004 and 2019.
Several bags full of cash allegedly linked to World Cup host Qatar have been found following the arrest of European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili in a corruption probe. pic.twitter.com/3LsQoJtOqA
— DW News (@dwnews) December 10, 2022
But a Qatari government spokesperson said he was unaware of any investigation, and denied misconduct. The spokesperson told AFP: "We are not aware of any details of an investigation. Any claims of misconduct by the State of Qatar are gravely misinformed."
Kaili, a lawmaker at the European Parliament and one of its 14 elected vice presidents, has been suspended from the parliament's Socialists and Democrats Group and expelled from the Greek center-left Pasok party, according to Politico.
It said the Socialists and Democrats Group said in a statement that it had "zero tolerance" for corruption, and would support the investigation.
Cash worth about €600,000 ($632,000; £515,000) was seized by Belgian police in 16 searches in Brussels on Friday. Computers and mobile phones were also taken by police in order to examine their contents, Politico added.
The BBC said investigators had suspected that a Gulf state had been influencing economic and political decisions of the parliament for several months, a spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor said in a statement. It claimed that the state was accused of targeting aides at the parliament.
"This is done so by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to third parties with a significant political and/or strategic position within the European Parliament," the statement said.
The wider investigation is into criminal organization, corruption, and money laundering, according to the BBC.
