Jan. 2 (UPI) — The president of the European Parliament said Monday she has begun a process to strip two members of their legal immunity as part of a widening corruption investigation.
Roberta Metsola said in a statement that she had received a request from Belgian police to make the move against two members of the EU parliament, although she did not name the parliament members who are involved.
The Brussels daily Le Soir named the members as Andrea Cozzolino of Italy and Marc Tarabella of Belgium.
“From the very first moment the European Parliament has done everything in its power to assist in investigations and we will continue to make sure that there will be no impunity,” Metsola said.
The corruption scandal has been ongoing since last month, when former European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili was arrested and charged with corruption and money laundering linked to Qatar’s lobbying operation in Brussels.
Investigators found $150,000 in cash during a search in her apartment. A further $600,000 was found in a suitcase carried by Kaili’s father as he was leaving a hotel in downtown Brussels.
Kaili was ordered to remain in jail throughout the Christmas holidays.
Former Italian socialist MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and Kaili’s partner Francesco Giorgi have also been arrested as part of the probe.
Belgium’s VSSE state security service had been working on an investigation into the corruption allegations for more than a year with the aid of other EU countries, the BBC reported.
