4 charged with corruption in bribery inquiry linked to Qatar
BRUSSELS – The office of the Belgian federal prosecutor announced Sunday that it had charged four people with corruption and other crimes as part of a major investigation into suspected bribes from Qatar to current and former officials and lawmakers in the European Parliament.
The prosecutor did not identify any of those charged and named only “a gulf state” when the charges were announced. But a Belgian official directly involved in the case said the country allegedly involved was Qatar. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the news media.
The prosecutor said that of six people taken in for questioning Friday, two had been released without being charged. Belgian authorities raided 16 homes Friday and searched a residence Saturday. They confiscated a bag with $632,000 in cash, as well as computers, phones and other evidence, the prosecutor said.
“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 Belgian prosecutor’s office said Sunday in a statement.
The Belgian official and European Parliament officials said that of the six people taken in Friday, one was Eva Kaili, a high-profile European lawmaker from Greece and one of Parliament’s vice presidents.
Others included Kaili’s life partner, Francesco Giorgi, who works as an aide to a European lawmaker; Luca Visentini, the recently elected chief of the International Trade Union Confederation, the global workers’ union; Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former member of the European Parliament; and Kaili’s father, Alexandros. The identity of the sixth person was not known.
The investigation comes as Qatar is hosting the men’s soccer World Cup amid heightened scrutiny.
The scandal is likely to embarrass the Qatari government, which has faced criticism over the exploitation of migrant workers who helped build the tournament’s infrastructure. And corruption was also already a focus.
A Qatari government official said Saturday that the government was not aware of any details of a European investigation. The official said that any claims of misconduct by Qatar were gravely misinformed and that the state operated in full compliance with international laws and regulations.