Saturday, the president of Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said that she suspended the title and the powers of vice-president of Eva Kaili, arrested on Friday by the Belgian police.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The Greek vice-president of the European Parliament Eva Kaili and three other people were charged and imprisoned on Sunday in Belgium in an investigation into suspicions of corruption in connection with Qatar within this EU institution, said At the Agency France-Presse (AFP) a judicial source.
Four people were imprisoned after their indictment by a Brussels investigating judge for “membership of a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption”, confirmed the federal prosecutor’s office in a press release, without however delivering the identity of people implicated. Two other people were released by the judge.
In this case “is suspected the payment of important sums of money or the offer of significant gifts to third parties with a political and/or strategic position allowing, within the European Parliament, to influence decisions” From this institution, underlines the publication of the prosecution.
A search took place on Saturday evening at the home of a second MEP, according to the prosecution press release. The Brussels home of Ms. Kaili had been searched on Friday evening. The vice-president of the European Parliament could not benefit from her parliamentary immunity because the offense criticized for her was noted “in the act” Friday, explained an anonymous judicial source to AFP.
This source confirms the press information according to which Ms. Kaili was in possession of “ticket bags” Friday evening when the Belgian police challenged her.
In the evening of Saturday, Parliament announced that Eva Kaili had temporarily withdrawn the tasks delegated to her by President Roberta Metsola, as that of representing it in the Middle East region. Left MEPs, including ecologist Philippe Lamberts on behalf of the Greens group in the European Parliament, asked for Ms. Kaili, excluded on Friday evening from the Greek Socialist Party