Greek Vice-President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili was charged with “corruption” on Sunday in Brussels, and imprisoned, in the investigation of a Belgian judge relating to large payments that Qatar would have made to influence decisions within of this great EU institution.
A judicial source told AFP that Ms. Kaili and three other people had been imprisoned by a Brussels judge, two days after their arrest in an investigation targeting the actions of the country organizing the World Cup-2022.
Mrs. Kaili could not benefit from her parliamentary immunity because the offense of which she is accused was found “in flagrante delicto”, explained the same judicial source. This source confirmed press reports that Ms. Kaili, a 44-year-old former Greek television presenter, was in possession of “bags of tickets” on Friday evening when the Belgian police arrested her.
Ms. Kaili’s Brussels home was searched on Friday evening. And that of another socialist MEP, the Belgian Marc Tarabella, was on Saturday evening, added the judicial source.
To assist the federal police in this second search, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola returned from Malta to Brussels in the evening, said one of her spokespersons. The presence of the president is required for such an act of investigation targeting a MEP elected in Belgium “as required by the Belgian Constitution”, it was explained.
On Sunday, the federal prosecutor’s office did not provide any names when announcing at midday these placements in pre-trial detention, decided after four charges for “belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption”.
Two other people among the six arrested in the past 48 hours have been released by the judge.
Among the six suspects arrested on Friday, after at least 16 searches in Brussels, were also the former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri and the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Luca Visentini, also Italian.
According to the Belgian press, Mrs. Kaili’s own father was himself worried in the investigation, caught carrying a large sum in cash “in a suitcase”.
In this case, “is suspected the payment of large sums of money or the offering of significant gifts to third parties having a political and/or strategic position making it possible, within the European Parliament, to influence the decisions” of this institution, recalled the prosecution on Sunday.
The affair broke out in the middle of the 2022 World Cup, while the organizing country must make efforts to defend its decried reputation for respect for human rights, in particular those of workers.
It also comes on the eve of a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where the relationship between the EU and Qatar should inevitably resurface in the debates.
Resignation requests
Eva Kaili went to Qatar in early November where she welcomed the reforms of the emirate in this sector in the presence of the Qatari Minister of Labor.
The EU ambassador to Doha Cristian Tudor then provided publicity on Twitter for this meeting, which was considered positive.
“Qatar is a leader in terms of labor rights,” Ms. Kaili also said on November 22 from the podium of the European Parliament.
These remarks, which had then caused a stir in the ranks of the left and the liberals, came back to the minds of many MEPs this weekend after the announcement of his arrest.
“I am now afraid to understand…”, commented on Saturday on Twitter the Frenchman Pierre Karleskind (Renew, liberals).
Monday in Strasbourg, the President of the European Parliament, the Maltese Roberta Metsola, called a meeting of the presidents of groups to discuss the Belgian judicial investigation, two sources in the Parliament told AFP on Sunday.
Green and Social Democrat MEPs will also oppose the start of negotiations on visa liberalization for Qataris in the EU.
Saturday evening, Ms. Metsola decided on a first sanction against Eva Kaili. The Greek vice-president saw herself withdrawing all the tasks delegated by Ms Metsola, including that of representing her in the Middle East region.
Left-wing MEPs, including the ecologist Philippe Lamberts on behalf of the Greens group in the European Parliament, demanded the resignation of Ms. Kaili, excluded from the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) on Friday evening.