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The Greek vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, was arrested on Saturday in Brussels in the framework of a Belgian police investigation into alleged crimes of corruption and money laundering in which Qatar is involved.
The Greek vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, and three other people were indicted and jailed on Sunday, December 11, in Belgium in the framework of an investigation into alleged corruption linked to Qatar within this EU institution, informed the AFP news agency a judicial source.
The federal prosecutor’s office did not give names and announced that four of the six people arrested in the last 48 hours had entered preventive detention.
Four people were arrested after being charged by a Brussels investigating judge with “membership of a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Two other people were released by the judge.
No parliamentary immunity
According to a judicial source close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Eva Kaili is among the four people jailed. She could not benefit from her parliamentary immunity because the crime of which she is accused was discovered “red-handed” on Friday, the same source explained.
The source confirmed reports in the press that “bags of cash” had been found in the flat of the Greek Socialist MEP.
Eva Kaili’s address in Brussels was searched on Friday night. And that of another socialist MEP, the Belgian Marc Tarabella, was registered on Saturday night, added the judicial source. The latter has not been arrested.
To help the federal police in this second search, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, returned from Malta to Brussels at night, according to a spokesman. The presence of the president is necessary for an act of investigation of this type against an MEP elected in Belgium, “as required by the Belgian Constitution”, she explained to herself.
This matter is “shameful and intolerable” and damages the reputation of the European Parliament in a “very serious” way, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, reacted on Sunday.
💬 “Une atteinte grave à la réputation” de l’Union européenne.
▶️ Paolo Gentiloni, commissaire européen à l’Économie pointe du doigt l’affaire de corruption présumée au profit du Qatar implicant des présentants du Parlement européen.https://t.co/PttG02AdkK pic.twitter.com/B1ASYYARHb– TV5MONDE Info (@TV5MONDEINFO) December 11, 2022
On Sunday, the federal prosecutor’s office did not give any names when announcing at noon the entry into provisional prison of four people accused of “belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.” Two other people of the six arrested in the last 48 hours were released by the judge.
Among the six suspects arrested on Friday, after at least 16 searches in Brussels, were the former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri and the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Luca Visentini, also Italian.
According to the Belgian press, Eva Kaili’s own father was also implicated in the investigation, having been caught carrying a large sum of cash “in a suitcase”.
In this case, it is suspected “the payment of large sums of money or the offering of important gifts to third parties with a political and/or strategic position in the European Parliament, which would allow them to influence the decisions of this institution,” the statement said. of the prosecutor
Qatar, “leader in labor law”, according to Eva Kaili
Eva Kaili visited Qatar at the beginning of November, where she welcomed the emirate’s reforms in this sector in the presence of the Qatari Minister of Labour.
The EU ambassador in Doha, Cristian Tudor, took to Twitter to publicize the meeting, which was seen as positive.
“Qatar is a leader in labor rights,” Eva Kaili also stated on November 22 in the European Parliament.
These words, which at the time caused a stir on the left and among liberals, returned to the minds of many MEPs this weekend after the announcement of his arrest.
“I’m afraid I get it now…” French MEP Pierre Karleskind (Renewal, Liberals) commented on Twitter on Saturday.
Roberta Metsola convened a meeting of group presidents in Strasbourg on Monday to discuss the Belgian judicial investigation, two sources from the European Parliament told AFP on Sunday.
Green and Social Democrat MEPs will also oppose the start of negotiations on visa liberalization for Qataris in the EU.
On Saturday night, the President of the European Parliament decided a first sanction against Eva Kaili. The Greek vice president was stripped of all tasks delegated by Roberta Metsola, including representing her in the Middle East region.
Left-wing MEPs, including Philippe Lamberts on behalf of the Greens group in the European Parliament, called for the resignation of Eva Kaili, expelled from the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) on Friday night.
*With AFP; adapted from its French version
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