Eva Kaili, who is a Greek social democratic politician, is said to have been brought in for questioning on Friday evening in connection with a corruption investigation. A further four arrests are said to have been carried out in the Belgian capital, several Belgian and Greek media reported.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office did not name the country at the center of the investigation. The press release referred to a Gulf state.
But Belgian police must, according to Soireefor four months have been investigating a suspicion that Qatar has tried to bribe decision-makers so that they make decisions that are in the country’s favor.
During Friday, the police raided more than 15 locations around Brussels. During the raids, 600,000 euros in cash, mobile phones and computer equipment were seized.
The European Parliament says it does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but adds:
“As always, the European Parliament cooperates fully with the responsible national authorities. Same thing in this specific case.”
The Greek party Pasok (All-Greek Socialist Movement), of which Eva Kaili is a member, announced on Friday evening that she had been expelled from the party, according to Euronews.
However, Belgian authorities have not confirmed any names.
The head of the world union suspected
One of those arrested in the raid on Friday, according to Le Soir’s sources, is said to be Luca Visentini, who recently took up the post of secretary general of the International Trade Union Confederation (Ituc). Ituc, which is the world’s largest trade union, represents approximately 200 million workers and white-collar workers in 168 countries and is thus an important pressure organization.
Visentini took up the post in November this year. Before that, he was general secretary of the European trade union ETUC, which represents 45 million members in 93 trade unions in 41 European countries.
– It is shocking and of course damages the international trade union movement both in Europe and globally if there is any truth in this. We don’t know that at all, so we can do nothing but wait for this investigation, says Oscar Ernerot, head of the Swedish LO’s international unit, to TT.