European Parliament Veep Held, Grilled For Corruption

Eva Kaili, one of the European Parliament’s vice presidents, has been expelled by her political party in Greece amid a corruption probe, Niamh Kennedy and Chris Liakos reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: Kaili’s political group within the European Parliament, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, announced on Friday they were suspending Kaili from the group with immediate effect.

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), one of Greece’s main opposition parties, said in a statement Friday: “Following the latest developments and the investigation by Belgian authorities into corruption of European officials, Member of European Parliament (MEP) Eva Kaili is expelled from PASOK-Movement of change by decision of President Nikos Androulakis.”

Kaili’s political group within the European Parliament, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, also announced on Friday they were suspending Kaili from the group with immediate effect “in response to the ongoing investigations.”

This comes as Belgium’s federal prosecutor confirmed to Belgian public service broadcaster RTBF on Friday that one of the parliament’s 14 vice presidents had been taken in for questioning as part of a probe into corruption involving the European Parliament and a country from the Persian Gulf.

The prosecutor said that for two years, Belgian police inspectors “suspected a country from the Persian Gulf of influencing economic and political decisions of the European Parliament,” according to RTBF.

Police suspect that the country transferred “consequential sums of money” or “important gifts” to significant actors within the European Parliament, according to RTBF.

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