by Marine Strauss
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium announced on Friday the opening of an investigation into suspicions of corruption involving an unidentified Gulf state and aides working at the European Parliament.
According to the Belgian federal prosecutor, 16 houses were raided on Friday in Brussels as part of a wide-ranging investigation into suspicions of organized crime, corruption and money laundering.
“For several months, investigators from the Federal Judicial Police have suspected a Gulf country of influencing the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament, by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to third parties an important political and/or strategic position within the European Parliament,” the prosecutor said in an emailed statement.
A European Parliament spokesman told Reuters he would not comment as the judicial inquiry is ongoing, but would work with local authorities if necessary.
Investigators recovered approximately 600,000 euros in cash and seized computer equipment and mobile phones.
Four people, born in 1955, 1969, 1971 and 1987, were arrested for questioning, including a former MEP, and could be brought before the investigating judge, said the prosecutor.
(Report Marine Strauss, with the contribution of Charlotte Van Campenhout and Sudip Kar-Gupta; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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