The Vice President of the European Parliament is suspected of having received bribes from Qatar.
(Photo: VIA REUTERS)
Brussels The alleged bribery of a vice-president of the European Parliament has shaken Brussels – but Michiel van Hulten, director of the Brussels office of Transparency International, considers this case to be just one of many.
On Friday, Belgian investigators searched several apartments, arrested six people and confiscated several hundred thousand euros in cash. There is a suspicion that these are bribes that were handed over to Greek MP Eva Kaili from Qatar.
Van Hulten was also once an MEP, from 1999 to 2005. He later became leader of the Dutch Labor Party. Since 2019 he has been working for the organization Transparency International, which fights corruption worldwide.
Van Hulten told the Handelsblatt that violations of the rules would not be punished in the European Parliament. This has created a “culture of impunity” that encourages corruption. To fix that, an independent institution with investigative powers is needed.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Read the full interview here:
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
Web and in our app free of charge for 4 weeks.
Continue
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
Web and in our app free of charge for 4 weeks.
Continue