Rarely has Qatar been so praised.

The organizer of the soccer World Cup is "a pioneer in workers' rights," said Eva Kaili, speaking in the European Parliament on November 21.

It was about a resolution by the MPs on the human rights situation in the emirate and on the role of the world football association in awarding the World Cup.

It spoke of thousands of migrant workers who are said to have died during the construction of the stadiums.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

  • Follow I follow

But the Greek social democrat, one of the fourteen vice-presidents of parliament, saw things very differently: "They committed themselves to a vision of their own free choice and they opened up to the world," she enthused about the emirate.

On the other hand, she reproached her colleagues in the Strasbourg plenum: “Nevertheless, some here are calling for discrimination against them.

They intimidate them and they accuse everyone who talks to them or has contacts of corruption.” It's a sentence that takes your breath away today.

On Friday evening, Eva Kaili, 44 years old, was arrested by the Belgian police on suspicion of corruption, as the Belgian public prosecutor confirmed.

According to a report in the newspaper L'Echo, she and her father were caught in the act.

The father was caught with a "suitcase full of banknotes" when he tried to get away.

During a search of the politician's private home, "several other bags filled with banknotes" were found.

That was enough to arrest the deputy.

Parliamentary immunity does not protect them if there is an urgent suspicion of a crime and there is a risk of collusion.

A magistrate must decide within 48 hours whether she remains in custody.

She was expelled from her Pasok party on Friday evening, and her membership in the Social Democrat faction was suspended.

Kaili is the most prominent, but not the only, suspect in this corruption case, which has caused waves in Brussels and could escalate into a crisis of confidence in the entire institution.

Four other people were interrogated by the police and taken into custody after houses were searched in fifteen different places in the Belgian capital, including offices in the European Parliament.

According to consistent reports in Belgian media, they include former MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri, an Italian social democrat, president of the NGO Fight Against Impunity.

A suitcase with 600,000 euros in cash is said to have been confiscated in his private home on Friday morning.

Qatar denies allegations

Also arrested was Luca Visentini, recently appointed general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, after years of holding that position at the helm of the European Trade Union Confederation.

Also affected are two assistants to MEPs, including Francesco G., Kaili's partner.

Their offices were ransacked and sealed by the police.

"The searches were carried out as part of a wide-ranging investigation into suspected involvement in a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering," the Belgian public prosecutor said.

Investigators suspected "a Gulf state of attempting to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament" by "paying significant amounts of money or offering substantial gifts to third parties who hold a strategically important position in the European Parliament".

This was reported by the newspaper "Le Soir", which was the first to get wind of the searches and arrests on Friday.