BRUSSELS: The arrest of a European Parliament vice-president and four others linked to a corruption probe implicating World Cup hosts Qatar sparked calls on Saturday for the bloc’s MPs to be held to higher standards.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said anti-corruption campaigning group Transparency International.

“While this may be the most egregious case of alleged corruption the European Parliament has seen in many years, it is not an isolated incident,” said a statement from its director Michiel van Hulten.

“Over many decades, the Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight. “In many ways it has become a law unto itself,” added van Hulten, urging “root and branch” reform.

“Every serious attempt to improve accountability is blocked by the Parliament’s ruling Bureau, with the acquiescence of a majority of MEPs,” he added.

Left-wing French MEP Manon Aubry condemned Qatar’s “aggressive lobbying” and demanded a parliamentary debate on the Gulf state.

Police arrested Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili on Friday hours after the four others had been detained for questioning. At least three were either Italian citizens or originally came from Italy, a source close to the case said.

Kaili, 44, is the partner of one of the four, Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant with the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group, said the source.

Former Italian MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who served as a socialist in the parliament between 2004 and 2019, was also reportedly arrested.

All five were still being questioned on Saturday, said a spokesman for Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office. The investigation concerns “corruption” and “money laundering”, the prosecutor said.

In Rome, press agencies reported Panzeri’s wife and daughter had been arrested in Italy.

The arrests came after a series of raids in Brussels which Belgian prosecutors said turned up 600,000 euros ($630,000) in cash.

Police also seized computers and mobile phones in the investigation into a Gulf state suspected of influencing the decisions of the European Parliament through cash payments or gifts to top figures in the EU assembly.

Belgian daily L’Echo reported on Saturday that “several bags full of (money) notes” had been found at Kaili’s Brussels home, which police decided to search after her father was caught carrying a large amount of cash in a suitcase.

While prosecutors did not name the country under investigation, a legal source close to the case confirmed that it was Qatar.

In Athens, the president of the Greek socialists (PASOK) Nikos Androulakis announced on Twitter that Kaili had been expelled from the party.

“There is pressure within the party for Kaili to leave her seat at the European parliament,” a member of the party said.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2022