The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office searched ten offices in the European Parliament on Monday in the context of the corruption case that is currently gripping European politics. Eric Van der Sypt, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, said this on Monday to Belgian media. On Friday, sixteen other offices were already searched. The amount of money seized during the house searches has risen to more than 1 million euros.
Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella is temporary from the Social Democratic Group set, just like two Italian colleagues. Belgian media report this, including The morning. They would be directly involved in the investigation. Their fellow party member Marie Arena joined the party herself back as chairman of the human rights commission. Arena states that the investigation has nothing to do with her, but with the work of her assistant who works for an NGO involved in the investigation.
Belgian prosecutors are investigating “alleged influence by a Gulf state” in the European Parliament, it was announced last week. According to Belgian media, it concerns bribery by Qatar. Last weekend, four people were charged with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. One of the deputy speakers of parliament and prime suspect in the case, Eva Kaili, has been relieved of her duties and her assets in her home country of Greece have been frozen, Reuters news agency reported.
Earlier on Monday, Roberta Metsola, the Maltese President of the European Parliament, chimed in strong wording out on the issue. “European democracy is under attack, this is a test of our values and systems,” said the politician. “There will be no impunity and nothing will be swept under the rug.” Metsola spoke of “challenging times”. At the same time, she firmly stated that the EU “can come out of this stronger”.
Also read this profile of Eva Kaili: Made famous by TV, and now all her assets are frozen