European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili and three others were placed in preventive detention this Sunday in Belgium after they were charged as part of an investigation into alleged Qatar-related corruption at the institution, a judicial source said.
The Federal Ministry of Public Information did not name names when it announced the preventive detention of four of the six people arrested in the past 48 hours.
According to a source in the judiciary, told France Presse, Eva Kaili is one of the four people arrested and in pre-trial detention.
She cannot exercise her parliamentary immunity because the crime she is accused of was solved “at the crime scene” on Friday, the same source explained.
Four people were arrested after they were charged by an investigating judge in Brussels with “belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption,” according to a press release from the federal prosecutor’s office.
Two other people were released by the judge.
This source confirmed press reports that Kylie had “bags of tickets” on Friday night when she was arrested by Belgian police.
The U.S. Attorney’s office also said the home of the second congressman was searched Saturday night.
In this case, “there are suspicions of paying large sums of money or offering significant gifts to third parties with a political and / or strategic position that allows them to influence decisions in the European Parliament” of this institution, the statement emphasizes.
On Saturday evening, the President of the European Parliament, Maltese Roberta Metsola, decided on the first sanction against Eva Kaili: she was deprived of all the powers delegated by Metsola, including representing her interests in the Middle East region.
Left-wing MEPs, including environmentalist Philippe Lamberts, on behalf of the Greens group in the European Parliament, on Friday night demanded the resignation of Kylie, who was expelled from the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal).
On Friday, Brussels police raided 16 homes and arrested, including Kylie’s companion, who is currently collaborating with a group of socialists and social democrats in the European Parliament.
Le Soir and Knack also on Friday announced the existence of an investigation into an alleged case of corruption, criminal organization and money laundering initiated by the Attorney General of the Republic of Belgium in July on the suspicion that Qatar would try to influence the position of the EP.
“For several months now, police investigators have suspected that the Gulf state is trying to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament,” the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
This state would implement this strategy by “paying significant sums of money and offering important gifts to third parties, people in important political or strategic positions in the European Parliament,” he added.
Although Belgian prosecutors do not explicitly mention Qatar, both Belgian media outlets cite several sources as confirming that it is the host country for the World Cup.
As part of an investigation by a judge specializing in financial crimes, searches were carried out in the homes of parliamentary advisers to the European Parliament.
