The Vice President of the European Parliament is the most prominent suspect in the corruption scandal.
(Photo: IMAGO/ANE Edition)
Strasbourg The EU Parliament has dismissed Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who has been arrested on corruption charges, as Vice President. A majority of parliamentarians in Strasbourg voted in favor of this. The parliamentary group leaders had previously voted unanimously in favor of it.
Shortly before, Kaili had announced through her lawyer that she rejected the allegations against her that she was said to have received money from Qatar. “She takes the position that she is innocent,” Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, who represents the Greek, told Open TV on Tuesday. “It has nothing to do with Qatari funding, nothing – explicitly and unequivocally. That is her position.” Kaili has “not taken any commercial action in her life.”
EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola addressed Parliament in an urgent speech on Monday. She spoke of anger, rage and grief at the revelations. “The European Parliament, dear colleagues, is being attacked, European democracy is being attacked, and our kind of open, free, democratic society is being attacked.”
Metsola stripped former TV presenter Kaili, one of 14 vice-presidents of parliament, of all powers in this post over the weekend. She was expelled from her Greek Pasok party and the Social Democratic group in the European Parliament.
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Greek social democrat Kaili is one of six suspects arrested by Belgian authorities since Friday in the corruption scandal. Four of them were remanded in custody on Sunday, including 44-year-old Kaili herself, her boyfriend and former MEP Antonio Panzeri.
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They are accused of involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption. It is said that the Gulf Emirate of Qatar, which is currently hosting the soccer World Cup, has tried to influence political decisions in the European Parliament with extensive monetary and material gifts.
At the EU level, for example, consideration is currently being given to easing the visa rules for Qatari citizens – the procedure in Parliament has been put on hold for the time being after the allegations of bribery. Qatar denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, authorities are continuing their investigation. On Monday, the anti-money laundering authorities in Kaili’s native Greece froze all the assets of the 44-year-old, her parents, her sister and her partner. In Brussels, investigators searched premises in the EU Parliament at the beginning of the week. Data was confiscated from the computers of ten parliamentary employees.
More: Corruption scandal in Brussels – Who are the accused and what will happen next