“We are in the middle of a crime scene.” Qatar scandal escalates as suspects must appear in court – POLITICO
The corruption scandal that has ravaged the European Parliament spread to Strasbourg on Tuesday, as other offices were cordoned off and MEPs strip Greek MEP Eva Kaili — the lawmaker at the center of the storm — from her role as vice president.
Officials say around 10 offices were cordoned off by the European Parliament’s security services, targeting roughly the same people who were the subject of Friday’s sweep in Brussels.
In addition, the Strasbourg office of an employee of Italian MEP Pietro Bartolo was also closed.
Kaili, along with three other people, are due to appear in court in Brussels on Wednesday following his arrest over the weekend.
In an emotional vote in the plenary chamber, MPs voted to strip Kaili of her role as Deputy Speaker of Parliament, although she will remain a member of the assembly. Lawmakers later took the stage to discuss the scandal that rocked parliament – the alleged payment of money to at least one current MEP and one former MEP by a foreign government.
MEPs have been rocked by the biggest corruption charges to hit the institution in years. Green MEP Hannah Neumann captured the sentiment of many as she spoke of her shock at the developments. “We are all standing in the middle of a crime scene with offices sealed off, colleagues in jail, facing the allegation that at least one of us has become a Trojan horse of corruption and foreign interference.”
Sven Simon of the centre-right European People’s Party was one of many to call for an overhaul of EU ethics laws. “For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the lobbying efforts of so-called non-state actors,” he said, calling for the creation of a foreign agent registration law modeled on the American system, which would introduce full transparency around funding, government structures and NGO budgets.
Despite MPs’ hopes that the scandal was limited to a few players, there were worrying signs that the investigation could escalate.
The office of Mychelle Rieu, an official of the Parliament’s human rights subcommittee, was sealed off by investigators in Brussels and computer equipment seized. A parliament official said the computer equipment seized was linked to the work of the committee – an influential body in parliament which is committed to “raising awareness of specific human rights situations”. The development could signal a possible new front in corruption allegations if the work of a committee, rather than that of an individual MEP, is investigated.
The subcommittee was previously headed by Pier Antonio Panzeri, the former Italian MEP who is at the center of the ongoing investigation and whose wife and daughter were arrested in Italy on Friday. The commission’s current chair, Belgian MEP Marie Arena, resigned earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas flatly dismissed any link to the corruption scandal, in his first public remarks since the crisis erupted. The Greek commissioner has come under scrutiny as one of the key EU figures engaged with Qatar on issues such as workers’ rights ahead of the World Cup and the removal of restrictions visa for the country.
“Let me be very clear and very simple because I think now is the time to be clear and simple,” Schinas told reporters in Strasbourg. “Throughout the year, all my public statements on Qatar are fully 100% consistent with the Commission’s position.”
The Socialists and Democrats Group – the centre-left political group that counted Kaili as a prominent member until a few days ago – has continued to face internal dissent and questions over its handling of the case and its failure to spot possible corruption within it at a group meeting on Tuesday evening.
The group has launched its own investigation into the case. “My group and I are shocked by this corruption case,” S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez said Tuesday morning. “I want to make it clear that our commitment to transparency is, has been, and always will be absolute.”