Qatar-related bribery scandal grows: bags of money revealed

In the statement from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, it was indicated that in the investigation of the allegations of corruption involving the Greek deputy Eva Kaili, one of the vice-presidents of the EP, access to the computer systems of 10 people who work in PA. , in order to avoid the loss of necessary data.

In this context, it was reported that this afternoon calls were made to the AP, and the objective of the calls was to capture said data.

In the statement from the prosecution, it was also noted that raids were carried out yesterday in Italy. The statement did not include detailed information about the calls in Italy.

raid 20 locations

According to information provided by the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s Office, raids and searches have been carried out so far at 20 points within the scope of the investigation. It was found that 19 of them were searches carried out at homes and one at the offices of the European Parliament.

HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS

As a result of the searches, 600 thousand euros were found in the house of a suspect, several hundred thousand euros in a bag in a hotel room in Brussels and 150 thousand euros in the apartment of an MEP.

KALI WILL BE ATTENDED

In the investigation, where 6 people have been arrested so far, 4 people have been arrested, including Eva Kaili. The other two people were released. The detainees will be taken to the preliminary hearing on Wednesday. Eva Kaili in St. Gilles is being held in prison.

The Belgian home of the Belgian EP member, Marc Tarabella, was also searched yesterday.

The Prosecutor’s Office shared the information that the legal process is followed according to the nationality and place of residence of each deputy, and that the president of the EP, Roberta Metsola, was also found during the search at the house of the Belgian deputy Tarabella, as required by law.

bribery scandal

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced on December 9 that an investigation was launched into suspicions that an unidentified Gulf country had delivered large sums of cash and offered high-value gifts to people strategically located in the European Parliament to influence the decisions of the European Parliament for several months. .

It was claimed that a large amount of cash, computer equipment and mobile phones were seized during Belgian police searches of the houses of Eva Kaili and 5 people.

In media reports, it was reported that Eva Kaili and some MPs were allegedly bribed from Qatar to influence the economic and political decisions of the EP, and 4 people, including Kaili, were arrested as part of the “corruption investigation”.

Kaili and former Italian deputy of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in AP and Pier-Antonio Panzeri, a member of the Italian Articulo Uno Party, Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, and Francesco Giorgi, an assistant to the S&D group They were among those arrested.

QATAR REJECTED THE CLAIMS

Qatar, on the other hand, has denied allegations that it bribed strategically placed people to influence some of the European Parliament’s economic and political decisions.

In a statement from the European Union Mission in Qatar, it was stated that “efforts to associate Qatar with accusations against some people in the press were unequivocally rejected.” (AA)