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Four people, including a former MEP, were arrested today in Brussels as part of an investigation by a financial judge into suspected bribery from a "Gulf country" within the European Parliament, Belgian federal prosecutors said.
The country was not named by the prosecution. According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Qatari officials had tried to bribe an elected Italian socialist who was an MEP from 2004 to 2019. The investigation concerns, among other things, acts of "corruption" and "money laundering" within an organised gang, according to the prosecutor's press release.
For months, Belgian investigators "suspected that a Gulf country was influencing the financial and political decisions of the European Parliament by paying significant sums of money or offering significant gifts to third parties with political standing and/or an important strategic position" within that institution.
The identity of those arrested was not disclosed by the federal prosecutor's office, which has jurisdiction in Belgium over terrorism and organised crime cases. This morning, as part of this investigation by a Brussels judge, 16 searches were carried out by police in various municipalities of the Belgian capital (where the European Parliament is based).
In addition to the four arrests, police seized "around €600,000 in cash", as well as "computer equipment and mobile phones" whose contents will be examined. "This operation particularly targeted parliamentary assistants working in the European Parliament. Among those arrested is a former MEP," the prosecutor's office said.
"The European Parliament does not comment on judicial proceedings. As always, the European Parliament cooperates fully with the competent national authorities. The same is true in this case," stressed a statement from the European Parliament.
"We are shocked by the investigation into possible cases of corruption in the European Parliament. There is no room for corruption anywhere in the EU. The authorities have our full support," stressed the European People's Party.
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Πηγή: Cyprus Times
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