On Friday, Belgian police searched 16 homes, confiscated 600,000 euros and arrested four people in a corruption investigation related to the EU Parliament.
15:51•Updated 17:03
The Belgian police have started a corruption investigation related to the EU Parliament, Belgian media reports.
– Federal police investigators have suspected for months that a Gulf state is trying to influence the financial and political decisions of the European Parliament, a spokesman for the Belgian Federal Police Eric van Fuyse said to the Knack magazine (you will switch to another service).
According to Fuysen, attempts have been made to influence the European Parliament by giving large sums of money and valuable gifts to persons who have strategic or political influence in the Parliament.
The Belgian police have not said which Persian Gulf state is in question, but according to the sources of the Belgian newspapers Knack and Le Soire, the state would be Qatar.
Qatar has received strong international criticism regarding the men’s soccer world championships.
The police conducted 16 house searches on Friday, during which the authorities seized computers, phones and a total of 600,000 euros in cash.
According to the Belgian police, home searches were carried out in several Belgian cities. The search was aimed at assistants of MEPs.
The ex-meppi was also arrested
The police arrested four Italian citizens during the search. One of them is a former MEP from the center-left S&D group Pier Antonio Panzeri. Panzeri currently heads the Straff Impunity organization headquartered in Brussels.
According to information from the Knack magazine, among those arrested was also an MEP’s assistant, a lobbyist and a trade union representative.
Lobbying is very common in Brussels, as both NATO and EU headquarters are located there. The investigation is about whether Qatar has tried to influence the decision-makers in a way that crosses the boundaries of usual lobbying.
The European Parliament has not wanted to comment on home searches.
Correction 9/12/2022 at 17:02: Corrected Panzer’s last name and title. Also added is information about other detainees.