Eva Kaili faces move to strip MEP of her seat as Qatar corruption probe widens
An extraordinary "conference of presidents" meeting will be convened at the European Parliament on Tuesday to vote on whether to bring an end to the term in office of the MEP Eva Kaili, embroiled in a corruption probe allegedly involving Qatar.
The Greek politician has already been stripped of her responsibilities as one of the parliament's vice-presidents. She and three others who have been charged are suspected of receiving cash or gifts to influence decision making. Doha denies misconduct.
Should the parliament's political leadership propose stripping Kaili of her seat, it would then be put to a full vote of MEPs.
Belgian police made fresh raids on Monday including one on a European parliamentary office as the corruption investigation widened.
In a statement, Belgium's Federal Prosecutors Office said that IT resources of ten parliamentary staffs had been "frozen" to prevent the "disappearance of data necessary for the investigation". They went on to say that the purpose of the search at the European Parliament was "to seize this data".
The bloc's top politicians have strongly condemned the corruption scandal that is shaking the EU legislative body. The EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola spoke about the "enemies of democracy for whom the very existence of this Parliament is a threat, will stop at nothing".
"A total of 20 searches have been carried out since the beginning of the operations, including 19 in private homes and the one in the offices of the European Parliament," the Belgian investigators concluded.
The sums seized during the searches carried out so far are spectacular: "€600,000 at the home of one of the suspects, several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a Brussels hotel room and around €150,000 in a
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