Credibility of European Parliament damaged by Qatar bribe allegations: EU ministers

The credibility of the European Parliament is at stake over Qatar’s graft probe, the EU ministers say, in light of allegations the Persian Gulf peninsular country, currently hosting the FIFA World Cup, lavished cash and gifts on the parliament’s officials to influence decision-making.

Greece on Monday froze assets of the key suspect in the case, 44-year-old Eva Kaili, a European Parliament vice-president and Greek socialist Member of the European Parliament (MEP) after Belgian prosecutors charged her with corruption. Greek authorities also froze the assets of Kaili’s relatives.

Three associates of the parliament's vice president were also charged after bags of cash were found in Kaili’s home shortly after she returned from an official visit to Qatar. A second MEP's house has been searched.

As part of the investigation, Belgian prosecutors searched 16 houses and seized 600,000 euros ($631,800) in the capital Brussels on Friday, when Kaili was arrested.

“The allegations against the vice president of the European Parliament are of utmost concern, very serious,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday. “It is a question of confidence of people into our institutions, and this confidence and trust into our institutions needs higher standards.”

For her part, Manon Aubry, head of the Left group, called on Kaili to step down and urged setting up a commission of investigation into what Aubry described as the parliament's “failures” in the affair.

German Green MEP Daniel Freund also said, "This will be a good week to fight corruption!"

Kaili is also a former television presenter. In November, just prior to the World Cup, she met Qatar's Labor Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.

In a video statement posted on Twitter by the Qatar News Agency, she said, “I believe the World Cup for Arabs has been a great tool for... political transformation and reforms.”

In Athens on Friday, the president of the Greek socialists (PASOK) Nikos Androulakis announced on Twitter that Kaili had been expelled from the party.

Kaili has been stripped of her responsibilities as a vice president of the European Parliament.

MG