A high-profile corruption scandal has recently come to light in Europe which includes the allegations against some Members of the European Parliament (MEP) the Belgian police are still in the midst of investigating the alleged bribery and corruption case. So far, they have charged four people.
According to media reports, among the four arrested are the European Parliament, Vice President Eva Kaili and three others who have been charged with bribery money, laundering and participation in a criminal organisation on behalf of a “Gulf state.”
While the European authorities have not officially named the country, Belgian media reports and even some members of the EU parliament have reportedly identified the “Gulf state” as Qatar. However, Doha has since “categorically rejected” the allegations of their involvement in the case.
What do we know about the case?
Headquartered in Belgium, Brussels, the European Parliament is one of the legislative bodies of the EU which consists of 27 member nations and 705 elected members the representation of which is proportional to the population of the member country. Notably, the MEPs are grouped in terms of political affiliation as opposed to which nation they are from.
On Friday, the Belgian police searched 16 homes and detained four initially unnamed people in connection with the case. Over the weekend raids also took place at the homes of two MEPs and a former MEP’s family in Italy.
According to a report by the New York Times, a total of six people were detained, on Friday, in addition to the EU parliament, VP was Kaili’s husband Francesco Giorgi and her father, Alexandros Kailis. Notably, Kaili’s husband works as an aide to Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino.
Furthermore, Luca Visentini, head of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former member of the European Parliament were also detained, said the report. However, the identity of the 6th person remains unknown. A report by Politico said that Kaili’s father and the trade union chief have since been released.
Over the weekend, the case unravelled further with at least 20 searches being conducted, said the Belgian federal prosecutor, on Monday. This included 19 private homes and one European parliament office. They have also frozen the IT accounts of several parliamentary staff to preserve data during the investigation, the purpose of this search was to seize the data, said the prosecutors.
“For several months, investigators from the Federal Judicial Police suspect a Gulf country of influencing the European Parliament’s (EP) economic and political decisions,” the prosecutor’s statement said. They also seized 600,000 euros ($ 63,227) in cash as well as computers and cell phones from one of the houses reportedly belonging to an MEP.
Additionally, the police also found several hundred thousand euros from a hotel room in Brussels, said the prosecutors. Furthermore, the police also reportedly found 150,000 euros ($ 158,381) at Kaili’s apartment and her family’s assets in Greece have been frozen by the authorities.
On Tuesday, Kaili’s lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, told the Greek local channel, Open TV, that she is “innocent” and “has nothing to do with bribery from Qatar.” The lawyer also said that she has “no insight” referring to the money that was allegedly found at the MEP’s residence. Meanwhile, Kaili’s father who was also detained has no restrictions placed against him and has since been released.
According to a report by Politico, Dimitrakopoulos also said that Kaili’s father “is free if he wants to come to Greece”. However, she added, “when a father sees his child in such a difficult situation, he stays by (their) side.” The lawyer also plans on filing an appeal tomorrow against the family’s frozen assets in Greece, said the report.
Who is MEP Eva Kaili?
The Greek Member of the European Parliament Eva Kaili is also among the 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament was reportedly arrested on Friday and charged with “participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption.”
She has also been accused of lobbying in favour of a Persian Gulf state which the Belgian media reports have identified as the 2022 FIFA World Cup host, Qatar. Since the EU parliament is divided on political affiliation, Kaili’s group, the parliament’s Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group has faced intense scrutiny following the incident.
A former journalist and graduate of architecture, civil engineering and European affairs, she became a national lawmaker by 2007 in the Greek parliament (Hellenic Parliament) as a member of PASOK, the country’s social-democrat party. She was also the youngest member of the Thessaloniki city council at the age of 24.
Kaili also stood her ground in opposition to Prime Minister George Papandreou, in 2009 when he was facing mounting criticism for his mismanagement of the country’s sovereign debt crisis. However, two years later when Papandreou faced a vote of confidence she eventually changed her vote in favour of the former PM and so did the rest of her party.
In 2014 she ran for the European Parliament and got elected to join their S&D group which is the second-largest formation in the hemicycle. Over the years she has been a part of several committees which also included being a member of the Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP).
Furthermore, her Italian husband worked as a sailing instructor in addition to being an assistant to an MEP. Reportedly, he was also seen in Qatar on business in 2018. She had also earlier claimed that her grandfather had been assassinated by communists which were later shown to be completely false, however, Kaili did not apologise and nor was she held accountable, said a report by Politico.
How have the MEPs reacted to the case?
So far, since the scandal has come to light, Kaili has been suspended from her duties as the EU parliament VP and has been expelled from both the social-democratic PASOK party in Greece and the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament.
The EU parliament group took to Twitter and said, “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.” Furthermore, they have also recently come under increased scrutiny for their connections to those charged and their advocacy on behalf of Qatar.
Amid the ongoing investigation, the other S&D members have also agreed to step away from their key assignments. This also comes as the case also raised questions about the 27-nation bloc’s credibility, said the EU senior leaders, while the president of the EU parliament, Roberta Metsola, said, “European Democracy is under attack,” and vowed to open an internal probe on the matter.
“It was quite obvious that a few colleagues from the S&D group had a strong pro-Qatari agenda. However, I never thought that in some cases this might be linked to illegal external interference and the allegations have shocked me,” said Hannah Neumann, the German MEP and DARP chair to Euronews.
She also noted how during her tenure she had seen “some embassies” trying to influence the committee’s decision “more aggressively” when compared to others. However, if these allegations turn out to be true about Qatar, or any other country attempting to influence MEPs by offering large bribes it will burden the diplomatic relations as well as her work with the delegation, said Neumann.
“The World Cup in Qatar is proof, actually, of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historical transformation of a country with reforms that inspired the Arab world…Still, some here are calling to discriminate against them. They bully them and they accuse everyone that talks to them or engages of corruption,” Kaili had said, in her speech, last month.
Qatar’s reaction to the allegations
As mentioned earlier, Qatar has not been officially linked to the probe, however, the police suspect that Doha has been using money and gifts to influence the political and economic decisions of the 27-nation bloc. However, the Qatari Mission to the European Union said that it “categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct.”
Qatar has faced intense scrutiny due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, its questionable human rights record, poor working conditions for millions of migrant workers and regressive policies toward LGBTQ+ rights.
(With inputs from agencies)
