Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili, vice-president of the European Parliament, was arrested on the evening of Friday December 9 in Brussels as part of an investigation into suspicions of corruption involving Qatar, told Agence France -Presse (AFP) a source close to the file.
The federal prosecutor’s office did not name the Gulf country concerned. But the same source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP the information revealed in a joint investigation. of the French newspaper The evening and the Flemish weekly knock, identifying Qatar.
Four other arrests had already taken place in the Belgian capital in the morning in the same case. Mme Kaili, companion of one of these four suspects, was “arrested to be auditioned” by the police, the source said. In Athens, the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) whose Mme Kaili is a member announced in the evening that she was “dismissed”.
Sums of money and gifts
At the heart of the investigation, led by a Brussels investigating judge: the actions of a ” Gulf States “ suspected of“to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament, by paying substantial sums of money or by offering important gifts”underlined the federal prosecutor’s office.
As for the beneficiaries, they are personalities with “a significant political and/or strategic position” within the European Parliament. Among the four arrested are a parliamentary assistant attached to the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, companion of Mme Kaili, the former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, also a socialist, and the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI, or Ituc in English), the Italian Luca Visentini.
This Italian official spoke again this week of the situation of workers in Qatar, in an interview broadcast on Friday by AFP. In particular, he called for “continue to put pressure on the authorities and employers” for better pay and more job mobility.
In a short message published on its site, the CSI said to itself “aware of the information circulating in the press”but declined to comment ” at this stage “.
The last person implicated is an NGO director.
amazing statements
A 44-year-old former TV presenter, Eva Kaili had met in Qatar shortly before the start of the FIFA World Cup with the Qatari Minister of Labor, Ali Ben Samikh Al Marri. On this occasion, the Greek elected representative hailed, on behalf of the European Union, Qatar’s commitment to “pursue labor reforms”according to a tweet from the Union’s Ambassador to Doha Cristian Tudor.
“Today, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is concrete proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historic transformation of a country whose reforms have inspired the Arab world”also declared Eva Kaili at the podium of the European Parliament on November 22. “Qatar is a leader in labor rights”she said.
Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup, has been accused by NGOs of neglecting the working and living conditions of its hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Asia and Africa.