Four Charged in Brussels With 'Organized Crime and Corruption' in EU Parliament

The European Parliament's vice-president, Greek politician Eva Kaili, was detained on Friday along with five other individuals as part of an inquiry into possible bribery after Belgian authorities carried out several arrests and searches in Brussels on 9 December.

Four individuals have been charged in Belgium by prosecutors investigating allegations of corruption at the European Parliament.

"Four individuals have been arrested by the Brussels investigating judge who is leading the investigation. They are charged with participation in a criminal organization, money-laundering and corruption. Two people have been released by the investigating judge," the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

It did not identify those in custody, but according to media reports, Greek MEP Eva Kaili is among them along with Francesco Giorgi - her parliamentary adviser - a former Italian Social Democratic MEP, Pier Antonio Panzeri, and a Brussels lobbyist.

The two released individuals were reportedly Kaili's father and Luca Visentini, the secretary-general of the International Trade Union Confederation.

Kaili has since been stripped of her duties in the European parliament and expelled from the Greek PASOK-KINAL (Panhellenic Socialist Movement — Movement for Change) party.

'Bags of Cash'

Kaili, along with five others, had been taken into custody after police carried out raids on a number of properties in Brussels on 9 December, seizing computers, mobile phones and large amounts of cash. According to some local reports, it was the Greek MEP's father who was allegedly apprehended leaving a hotel with €600,000 ($632,000) in a bag.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor revealed that officers were investigating allegations of corruption in the European parliament, as they believed a Gulf country had resorted to bribes and gifts in an effort to influence decision-making there.

"It is suspected that third parties in political and/or strategic positions within the European parliament were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament’s decisions,” the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Some Belgian media suggested that Qatar was the country in question, and the probe was ostensibly linked with the holding of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in the Gulf state. In response, a Qatari official was cited as rejecting any allegations of misconduct , saying:

“Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed.”