They investigate whether Qatar bought influence in the European Parliament and arrest a vice president of the body

Belgian police detained Greek Socialist MEP Eva Kaili, one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament, on Friday as part of an investigation into suspected corruption involving Qatar, a prosecutor’s office source said. The MEP was arrested a few hours after the arrests of four Italian suspects in the same case, the prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The officers detained Kaili for “questioning”. She is a partner of one of the four suspects arrested, who was a parliamentary assistant in the Socialist group in the Eurochamber. The investigation, carried out by a Belgian judge for four months, examines an alleged crime of “corruption” and another of “money laundering” in an organized gang. “There are suspicions that a Gulf country” tried to influence “the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament,” the prosecution said.

Although the prosecution avoided identifying the country, a source close to the case confirmed to AFP that it is Qatar. The beneficiaries of this alleged bribery were leaders “with a significant political or strategic position” in Parliament. The prosecution also did not identify the detained former MEP, although the Belgian press reported that it would be the former Italian Socialist MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who held a seat in the European Parliament between 2004 and 2019.

So far, 16 searches have been carried out in the Belgian capital, in which computer equipment, cell phones and 600,000 euros have been seized. [y una cantidad similar en dólares].

The alleged gifts from the Qataris could be related to Qatar’s desire to improve its reputation regarding human rights and the treatment of migrant workers. One of the detainees is the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Italian Luca Visentini.

In an interview for AFP, published on Friday, this union leader defended “continuing to pressure the Qatari authorities and employers” to improve the wages and precarious working conditions of migrant workers.

The CSI indicated “to be aware of the information circulating in the press”, but “for the moment” did not want to comment on the arrest of its general secretary.

The Pasok-Kinal (center-left), of which Kaili was a part, announced on Friday night that it was removing her from its ranks. – Work accidents –

Kaili, 44, who previously worked as a television presenter, holds one of the 14 vice-presidencies of the European Union.

Shortly before the start of the World Cup, he had met in Qatar with the emirate’s Minister of Labor, Ali bin Samikh Al Marri. Then, the Greek representative highlighted the commitment of the Qatari leaders to “continue with their reforms of working conditions”, according to a tweet from the EU ambassador in Doha, Cristian Tudor.

“The World Cup in Qatar is a concrete demonstration of how sports diplomacy can promote the historic transformation of a country,” said Kaili in the Chamber of Parliament on November 22.

“Qatar is an example to follow in terms of labor rights,” he added.

Numerous NGOs accused Qatar of imposing very precarious working conditions on hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Asia or Africa.

The British newspaper The Guardian revealed in February 2021 that since 2010, the date the World Cup was awarded to the emirate, 6,500 foreign workers have lost their lives in Qatar. The International Labor Organization (ILO), which lamented the lack of data on this issue, reported fifty fatal workplace accidents and 500 seriously injured workers in 2020.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.