Brussels: Former European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili is one of four people in detention, charged by Belgian prosecutors with “participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption”.
She has already been booted out of her political parties and affiliations and stripped of her vice presidency accused of accepting bribes from Qatar.
Gleaming speeches about the Gulf state in the European Parliament, voting in favor of files related to Qatar in committees on which she didn’t sit, and attending numerous unregistered events in the country are the alleged links between Kaili and Doha.
In a statement published online, the Mission of Qatar to the EU called the allegations “baseless and gravely misinformed. “Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct. Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed,” said Doha’s mission to the EU in a statement on Sunday.
It added that the Gulf state “works through institution-to-institution engagement and operates in full compliance with international laws and regulations.
While official details of the scope and depth of the police investigation in Belgium remain scant, the activities of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and other EU bodies will now come under increased scrutiny.
EU experts are questioning whether the existing anti-corruption measures in place suffice.
She has already been booted out of her political parties and affiliations and stripped of her vice presidency accused of accepting bribes from Qatar.
Gleaming speeches about the Gulf state in the European Parliament, voting in favor of files related to Qatar in committees on which she didn’t sit, and attending numerous unregistered events in the country are the alleged links between Kaili and Doha.
“This is clearly a woman who wasn’t afraid of being caught. It indicates that whatever measures and processes the European Parliament has, have no deterrent effect,” he said. “Even stupid people, if they were afraid, wouldn’t do it.
While the EU parliament has numerous transparency measures in place, from a database of organizations registered with it, transparency register, to declare their budgets and any donations above €10,000, the NGO at the heart of the current corruption scandal, is not on the register. Its president, former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, is also in detention. And Eva Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi works there too.
With the loopholes in the system, this was bound to happen, said Paul Varakas, the president of the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP). The society helps lobbyists apply to the Transparency Register.
MEPs also enjoy diplomatic immunity to carry out their political work without fear of prosecution.
According to a Protocol on privileges and immunities of the EU, they cannot “be subject to any form of inquiry, detention or legal proceedings in respect of opinions expressed or votes cast by them in the performance of their duties.”
Immunity is not valid, however, “when a Member is found in the act of committing an offence and shall not prevent the European Parliament from exercising its right to waive the immunity of one of its Members.”
If necessary, MEPs have the right to request their immunity is upheld, but the press office of the European Parliament said no request of that nature had been made by Eva Kaili.
Prosecuting judges in Belgium have also not asked for the immunity to be lifted.
“If there is no request for immunity to be withdrawn then that suggests that the judge has concluded that the criteria have been met for immunity to no longer apply,” said European Parliament spokesperson Jaume Duch in Strasbourg.
