Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office announced the arrest of four people in Brussels on Friday as part of an investigation by a finance judge into suspected corruption in the European Parliament by a “Gulf country”. Among them is a former MP. The country was not named by the prosecution. According to a Belgian newspaper the eveningAuthorities allegedly tried to corrupt an elected Italian socialist who was an MEP from 2004 to 2019 in Qatar.
The investigation is targeting, among other things, “corruption” and “money laundering” activities in an organized gang, according to a press release from the prosecution. For several months, Belgian investigators “suspected a Gulf country to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament by paying significant sums or making significant gifts to third parties with a political position and/or significant strategy within this institution”.
Sixteen quests
The identity of those arrested was not released by the federal prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction in Belgium for terrorism and organized crime cases. On Friday morning, as part of this investigation by a Brussels judge, sixteen searches were carried out by the police in various municipalities of the Belgian capital.
In addition to the four arrests, “around 600,000 euros in cash” and “computer equipment and mobile phones” whose contents will be analyzed. “The operation specifically targeted parliamentary assistants working in the European Parliament. Among those arrested was a former member of the European Parliament,” the lawsuit said.
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