Maria Arena, a former member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Socialist Party, has been charged with belonging to a criminal organization, the Belgian federal prosecutor confirmed to Euronews.
The move follows the Qatargate scandal that rocked Parliament in 2022, in which several MEPs and officials were accused of corruption and money laundering.
The allegations were confirmed following revelations in La Libre newspaper, but a spokesman declined to comment further on the investigation into alleged influence-buying by foreign actors such as Qatar, Euronews reports.
Arena denied the charges, as did other accused former MEPs, including Eva Kaili, her partner Francesco Giorgi, Pier Antonio Panzeri, Andrea Cozzolin and Marco Tarabella.
Arena, who was an MEP for the French-speaking part of Belgium until July 2024, resigned as chair of Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee after it was revealed that she had failed to declare paid trips to Qatar.
She has so far avoided direct charges, although in the earlier stages of the investigation Belgian police sealed off her assistant’s office.
Arena told La Libre that she was “accused because she knows other people who themselves have been accused of corruption.”
This is the latest twist in an increasingly complex case.
In June 2023, Michael Claise, the judge leading the investigation, recused himself after allegations of a conflict of interest. Tarabelle’s lawyer argued that Claise could not be impartial because his son and Arena’s son were business partners.
The news means four more people have been charged in connection with the investigation, in addition to six people who were charged in the months after the case was opened in December 2022.
Earlier in January, Le Soir reported indictments against three more suspects – including two advisers and an assistant from the socialist group.
Two years on, the case faces additional obstacles. Investigating judge Aurélie Dejaiffe is soon moving to another post within the Belgian justice system, while Kaila’s case has been further delayed by questions about the legality of information provided by Belgian intelligence services.
