Four charged in EU Parliament corruption scandal

Four suspects have been charged and remanded in custody in a Belgian investigation into alleged corruption at the European Parliament, the federal prosecutor's office said on Sunday. 

Prosecutors did not identify the four by name, but a judicial source told the AFP news agency they include Eva Kaili, a Greek socialist MEP and one of the parliament's vice presidents.

The home of a second MEP was searched late Saturday, the prosecutor's office said.

"Four individuals have been arrested by the Brussels investigating judge who is leading the investigation," the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"They are charged with participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption. Two persons have been released by the investigating judge."

Kaili was among six suspects arrested in Brussels on Friday and later suspended from her role as vice president of the European Parliament. The arrests came after Belgian police carried out sixteen raids across Belgium's capital Brussels on Friday.

The centre-left Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament said on Friday that it “has taken the decision to suspend MEP Eva Kaili’s membership of the S&D Group with immediate effect in response to the ongoing investigations.”

Kaili, a 44-year-old former TV news anchor, was also suspended by her party at home — the Greek Socialist party, Pasok-Movement for Change.

Pasok said it acted “following the latest developments and the investigation by the Belgian authorities into the corruption of European officials.”

Pasok and the S&D declined to provide further details. 

READ MORE: Greek PM used spy agency to wiretap generals, other key officials: report

'Not an isolated incident'

Investigators recovered around $633,500 (600,000 euros) in cash and seized computer equipment and mobile telephones during the Brussels raids.

The EU parliament’s press service declined to comment on the raids while an investigation was underway but said the assembly was cooperating fully with Belgian police.

“While this may be the most egregious case of alleged corruption the European Parliament has seen in many years, it is not an isolated incident," Michiel van Hulten, Director of Transparency International EU, said in a statement. 

"Over many decades, the Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight," he added. 

Kaili was elected in January as one of 14 vice presidents at the EU assembly, where she has served as a member since 2014.

She cannot be removed completely from the vice president role before a vote by top political group leaders in the assembly and then the full Parliament.

READ MORE: What is the 'European Geopolitical Community'?