In Belgium, the Deputy President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, was detained and arrested. She is on trial for corruption in connection with the World Cup, which is currently taking place in Qatar. This was reported by AFP.
Earlier it became known that four people were detained in Brussels as part of an investigation into Qatar's lobbying in the European Parliament, the police conducted 16 searches. The Belgian prosecutor's office reported that, in particular, Kylie's assistant, who used to work for the Italian ex-MP of the European Parliament, Pier Antonio Panzeri, was interrogated. Panzeri's house was also searched and almost 500,000 euros in cash were seized.
The police suspect that one of the Persian Gulf states tried to influence the European Parliament by offering bribes to its members. This is due to the choice of Qatar as the country for the World Cup.
Eva Kaili was also an MEP for the Greek PASOK party. But the party expelled her after news of the investigation.