Suspicion of “corruption” and “money laundering” at an organized gang in the European Parliament. Four people, including a former MEP, were arrested in Brussels, Belgium on Friday. These arrests came as part of an investigation by a finance judge into suspected corruption by a “gulf country” within the European hemisphere, Belgian prosecutors say.
The country is not named by the public prosecutor. According to Belgian newspaper Le Soir, it is Qatar whose officials have tried to bribe an elected Italian socialist who was an MEP from 2004 to 2019. For several months, Belgian investigators have suspected “a Gulf state of influencing the decisions on economic and political affairs of the European Parliament, by paying significant sums of money or by offering significant gifts to third parties with a significant political and/or strategic position” within that institution Any gifts or benefits offered could be linked to Qatar’s desire to improve its maligned reputation for human rights and the treatment of workers.
Personalities with “a significant strategic position”
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for terrorism and organized crime cases in Belgium, announced these arrests without naming the suspects, their nationality or the country to which these suspicions of corruption within one of the most important institutions of the EU refer. However, a source familiar with the matter also confirmed to AFP press reports that Qatar is the target, while those arrested are Italian or of Italian origin.
These are figures who hold “a significant political and/or strategic position” within Parliament. According to French-language daily Le Soir and Flemish weekly Knack, who investigated together, the suspected former MEP is Italian socialist Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who sat on that assembly from 2004 to 2019. This 67-year-old man . today at the head of an association fighting against human rights abuses (baptized Fight Impunity) was arrested in Brussels at the same time as three other suspects.
The general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI, Ituc in English), the Italian Luca Visentini, Pier-Antonio Panzeri, as well as a parliamentary assistant and an NGO director are said to be among those arrested.
Around €600,000 in cash was confiscated
On Friday morning, police carried out 16 searches in different communes of the Belgian capital (where the European Parliament is based) as part of this investigation by a Brussels judge. In addition to the four arrests, the police got their hands on “around 600,000 euros in cash” as well as “computer devices and mobile phones”, the content of which is being analyzed.
“This action was aimed in particular at parliamentary assistants working in the European Parliament. Among those arrested is a former MEP,” says the prosecutor.
In a very succinct statement on its website, the ITUC said it was “aware of the information disseminated in the press” but declined to comment “at this time”.