The European Parliament is mired in controversy surrounding a corruption scandal with the Belgian police seizing 600,000 euros in cash and detaining two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) as part of an international investigation into alleged corruption tied to football World Cup host Qatar.
On Sunday, a Belgian judge charged four unnamed suspects with “participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption” and remanded them in custody.
Although the federal prosecutor’s office did not identify the four, one of them is likely to be Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili, who is also one of the parliament’s vice presidents, AFP reported quoting a judicial source.
Over the weekend, investigators conducted multiple arrests and searches in the homes of two MEPs and a former MEP’s family in Italy.
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Two persons were released by the investigating judge, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors said Antonio Panzeri, president of a Brussels-based NGO and a former MEP, was detained in Brussels, while his wife and daughter were detained in Bergamo on the basis of a European arrest warrant.
What are the charges?
Kaili and five others were arrested in Brussels on Friday following investigations into allegations that figures linked to World Cup host Qatar paid bribes to influence the EU policy debate.
Apart from seizing the 600,000 euros ($630,000) in cash, the police also seized computers and mobile phones during raids in Brussels.
According to the judicial sources, Kaili was caught by the Belgian police with “bags of cash" in her possession.
According to Belgium’s federal prosecutors’ office, third parties in political and/or strategic positions within the European parliament allegedly received large sums of money or gifts to sway the parliament’s decision.
According to Italian MEP Dino Giarrusso, since 2019 he and several other legislators in Brussels were approached by Qatari officials to help them “improve the country’s reputation, especially in the run-up to the Fifa World Cup”, Financial Times reported.
The allegations come at a time when Qatar is preparing to host the World Cup semi-finals and final this week. The FIFA World Cup 2022 has been marred in controversy with allegations of human rights violations and corruption including the right of hosting the tournament in the Gulf state.
Hosting rights
Qatar winning the hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup has been itself marred by controversy since it was first announced 12 years ago.
The US Department of Justice said bribes were paid to five members of FIFA’s top board prior to the 2010 vote to choose Qatar as the host of World Cup 2022.
Qatar denied the allegations.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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