After the EU corruption scandal: Group leaders want to oust Kaili Before the ruling in the Nice terror trial: “There is a risk of a miscarriage of justice”

In connection with the alleged corruption scandal involving EU Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili, investigators also searched rooms in the EU Parliament in Brussels on Monday. This has been announced by the Belgian public prosecutor’s office. Information has been seized from the computers of ten parliamentary assistants. The computers have been “frozen” since Friday to prevent the data needed for the investigation from disappearing. There were also raids in Italy on Sunday, it said.

According to the prosecutor’s office, 20 house searches have already been carried out since the start of the investigation – 19 in offices and living quarters and one in the European Parliament itself. According to this, 600,000 euros were found in the home of a suspect, several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a hotel in Brussels and 150,000 euros in the apartment of an MEP. The name was not mentioned.

The Greek social democrat Kaili is one of the six suspects that the Belgian authorities have arrested since Friday in the corruption scandal. Four of them were taken into custody on Sunday – including, according to information from the German press agency and other media, 44-year-old Kaili herself, her boyfriend and former MEP Antonio Panzeri. According to the public prosecutor’s office, they must appear before a council chamber on Wednesday, which must decide whether the arrest will be maintained and how to proceed.

The four suspects are suspected of involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption. It is said that the Gulf Emirate of Qatar, which is currently hosting the World Cup, has tried to influence political decisions in the European Parliament with massive financial and material donations. The desert state rejected the allegations.

Group leaders in the European Parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to dismiss corruption suspect Eva Kaili as vice president. This proposal was made by the so-called Conference of Presidents, the German news agency learned from parliamentary circles on Tuesday. The final decision on this now lies with the plenary session of parliament, which should vote on it on Tuesday. (sda/dpa)