Qatar corruption scandal engulfs European Parliament after arrest wave
Officials “paid large sums of money, offered gifts” to promote Doha World Cup, Belgian prosecutors’ office says
EU’s foreign policy chief said allegations of bribery by Qatar to burnish its image at the EP were “worrisome”
Updated 12 December 2022
Arab News
LONDON: A corruption scandal has engulfed the European Parliament following the seizure of cash donations and detainment of an MEP linked to promoting Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup, the Financial Times reported.
Following a series of searches and arrests over the weekend, a Belgian court charged four people with “participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption.”
It is claimed that Qatar sought to influence officials in the EP through cash donations and offers of lavish holidays.
The scandal has led to resignations and the pausing of a vote on giving Qatari nationals visa-free access to Europe.
Two MEPs as well as the family of a former MEP in Italy are said to be at the center of the scandal.
The latter were allegedly offered a $105,000 holiday to Qatar in return for promoting the country’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said on Monday that allegations of bribery by World Cup host Qatar to burnish its image at the EP were “worrisome.”
The bribery claims have rocked the EU’s legislature and sparked calls for the bloc’s institutions to be put under the microscope to root out foreign influence.
“There is a process ongoing. Certainly, the news is very worrisome — very, very worrisome,” Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, said.
Borrell said no officials from the bloc’s diplomatic service or overseas missions were implicated in the allegations.
“There (are) police and judiciary actions. We have to follow these actions,” Borrell said, adding he could not go beyond the “judiciary statements.”
“(These are) very, very, very grave accusations,” he said.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the allegations were “damaging, and we need to get to the bottom of it.”
His German counterpart Annalena Baerbock warned “this is also precisely about Europe’s credibility.”
Qatar has long faced claims that its successful campaign to host football’s premier tournament came as a result of corruption.
Before the wave of arrests, Belgian police had investigated claims that Qatar had sought to influence members of the EP.
Dino Giarrusso, an Italian MEP, said that Qatari officials had approached officials in the Parliament on successive occasions since 2019.
He added: “They were hoping to improve the country’s reputation, especially in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup.”
Belgium’s federal prosecutors’ office alleged that “third parties in political and/or strategic positions” within the EP were “paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence decisions.”
Eva Kaili, an EP vice president, is believed to be one of the officials facing corruption charges.
Last month, the Greek former TV presenter defended Qatar’s human rights program in the Parliament, labeling the country a “front-runner in labor rights.”
She defended Doha’s hosting of the World Cup, claiming that MEPs criticizing the Gulf state had “accused everyone that talks to them of corruption, but still, they take their gas.”
Kaili has been stripped of her duties in the legislature as well as her domestic Greek membership of the socialist party PASOK.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the allegations of corruption against Kaili are of the “utmost concern.”
“The allegations are of utmost concern, very serious,” she said, reiterating that she was also proposing the creation of an independent ethics body to cover EU institutions.
“It is a question of confidence of people into our institutions, and this confidence and trust into our institutions needs higher standards,” the EU chief said.
As the European Parliament began its last plenary session of the year on Monday in Strasbourg, France, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola promised “there will be no sweeping under the carpet.”
“We will launch a reform process to see who has access to our premises, how these organizations, NGOs and people are funded, what links with third countries they have,” Metsola said.
“We will ask for more transparency on meetings with foreign actors and those linked to them. We will shake up this Parliament and this town, and I need your help to do it,” she added.
The EP’s largest party, the European People’s Party, said in a statement that it was “shocked” at the corruption scandal, adding that “no stone should be left unturned” in subsequent investigations.
Anti-corruption organization Transparency International called for an independent ethics watchdog to oversee EU institutions in the wake of the scandal.
Transparency EU director Michiel van Hulten, a former MEP, said: “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.”
Qatar has unanimously rejected any claims of corruption.
A Doha official said: “Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed.”
UN Special Envoy arrives in Aden in attempt to persuade warring factions to sign peace road map
Updated 16 sec ago
Saeed Al-Batati
AL-MUKALLA: The US-led Red Sea marine coalition destroyed four drones fired by Yemen’s Houthis from regions under their control against ships in international waters off Yemen’s shores, the US military said on Sunday morning.
The US Central Command said that a coalition warplane destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis from Yemen over the Gulf of Aden on Friday, inflicting no human casualties or damage to the coalition’s navy or international commercial ships.
On Saturday morning, the Houthis launched three drones over the Red Sea, but they failed to reach their objectives after being intercepted by CENTCOM forces.
“There were no injuries or damages reported by US, coalition, or merchant vessels,” the US military said. It further committed to continued military action that includes taking down Houthi drones and missiles in the air and destroying them on the ground in Yemen to make international trade channels “safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels.”
The Houthis have made no new claims of assaults on ships in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden since Thursday,
Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship, sunk another, and launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and remotely controlled and explosives-laden boats at international commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden, as well as recent attacks in the Indian Ocean.
They say that their campaign is aimed only at Israel-linked ships and those traveling to Israel, with the goal of pressuring Israel to cease its assault in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, and that they targeted US and UK ships after the two countries launched attacks on parts of Yemen under their control.
At the same time, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Shaya Mohsen Al-Zindani said that the Yemeni government and the Houthis had been about to sign the UN-brokered road map, put together with assistance from Saudi Arabia and Oman, but the Houthi Red Sea strikes foiled the signing, dealing a severe blow to peace efforts to end the Yemen war.
In an interview with Al-Hadath TV on Saturday, Al-Zindani said that the international community has taken a firm stance against the Houthis — a departure from their previous soft stance — following their escalation in the Red Sea and accused the militia of not being serious about peace in Yemen.
“The events and escalation in the Red Sea have confirmed to them what the legitimacy had proposed: that this group is violent, not inclined to peace, and cannot exist without war,” the Yemeni minister said.
He again accused Iran of aiding the Houthis.
“We hope that Iran will stop intervening in Yemeni affairs and instead try to promote peace in Yemen.”
This photo taken on February 12, 2024, shows Hans Grundberg (C), the United Nations' special envoy for Yemen, meeting with Yemeni officials in the country's third city of Taez. Grundberg was back in Yemen on Sunday to follow up on his efforts to persuade Yemen’s warring factions to sign the road map for peace. (AFP/File)
Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Sunday arrived in the southern port city of Aden, the base for Yemen’s internationally recognized government, to meet with the presidential council leader and government officials, stepping up his efforts to persuade Yemen’s warring factions to sign the road map for peace.
Grundberg has recently traveled between towns in the area to seek international backing for his attempts to broker a peace deal in Yemen.
Biden’s remarks on Gaza hostages ‘setback’ for negotiations: Hamas
“We endured three days that can be considered hell,” said Mohammed Hamad, a 24-year-old resident of eastern Rafah who was among the 300,000 Palestinians that Israel says have fled the fighting
Israel has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
Updated 10 min 22 sec ago
AFP
GAZA: Remarks by US President Joe Biden that a ceasefire in Gaza would be possible if Hamas released its hostages are a “setback” to negotiations, the Palestinian goup said Sunday.
“We condemn this position by the US president, we consider it a setback from the outcomes of the latest round of negotiations, which led to the movement’s agreement to the proposal put forward by mediators,” Hamas said in a statement.
Biden said on Saturday that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war would be possible “tomorrow” if Hamas gave up hostages seized in its Oct. 7 attack.
The US president raised the topic of the hostages during a speech in Seattle after warning Israel he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if it sent ground troops into the city of Rafah.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a truce and hostage exchange deal, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, appear to have stalled amid Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city.
Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “rushed to overturn” the talks by launching an offensive in Rafah.
The militant group accused the Israeli government of “escalating their brutal massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip” and “reaffirming their pursuit of continuing the genocidal war in Gaza.”
Israel defied international opposition this week and sent tanks and troops into eastern Rafah, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
On Saturday, the Israeli military expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah and said 300,000 Palestinians had left the area.
War-weary Gazans flooded toward coastal areas of the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, fleeing heavy bombardment in eastern zones after Israel ordered them to evacuate.
“We endured three days that can be considered hell,” said Mohammed Hamad, a 24-year-old resident of eastern Rafah who was among the 300,000 Palestinians that Israel says have fled the fighting.
Eastern parts of the city have been heavily bombarded in recent days, according to witnesses, as Israel sent tanks and ground troops into the areas in “targeted raids.”
“They were among the worst nights for us since the beginning of the war,” Hamad said from Al-Mawasi, an area Israel has designated a “humanitarian zone” despite aid groups warning that it is unprepared for such an influx.
Rafah’s population had swelled to around 1.4 million after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled fighting in other areas of the Gaza Strip and sought shelter there during more than seven months of war.
“They started by distributing flyers in the morning, and immediately began brutal artillery and aerial bombardment without giving people a chance to think or organize their belongings properly,” Hamad said.
AFP photographers saw dozens of families loading furniture and household items on trucks and fleeing from Rafah, many heading for Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Palestinian territory.
Many people, especially women and children, lingered on streets outside their homes before moving out.
Greek premier to visit Turkiye in quest for better relations
President Erdogan says he wishes to ‘raise the level of bilateral ties to a new level’
Updated 56 min 31 sec ago
AFP
ISTANBUL: Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be received on Monday in Ankara by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the latest sign of warming relations between the NATO neighbors.
Diplomats said the day-long visit marks a new phase in their relations after decades of tensions, occasionally broken by brief reconciliation periods.
It follows Erdogan’s trip to Greece in December.
In an interview published on Sunday in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Erdogan said talks would focus on “resolving problems” between the two neighbors.
“It falls to us to calm relations between the two countries and ensure that peace and tranquility reign forever on both sides of the Aegean Sea,” the Turkish leader said.
He added he wished to “raise the level of bilateral relations to a new level.”
In December, the regional rivals — divided over the island of Cyprus and dealing with migration through their respective waters — signed a declaration calling for “friendly and good neighborly relations, recognizing the importance of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence.”
But this appeasement, also helped by solidarity after an earthquake killed more than 50,000 in southeastern Turkiye in February 2023, has been undermined by Turkiye converting another former Byzantine church into a mosque.
After four years of restoration, the former Kariye Orthodox church in Istanbul reopened as a mosque on May 6.
The 2020 decision to convert the church came after Muslim services resumed at the 6th-century former Byzantine cathedral of Hagia Sophia. The landmark building has been a museum since 1935.
The changes were part of Erdogan’s efforts to galvanize his more conservative and nationalist supporters.
“There’s no shortage of mosques in the city. That is no way to treat cultural patrimony,” Mitsotakis said a week ago, although he has also said that “channels of conversation must remain open.”
Mitsotakis told Greek television station Alpha TV on Saturday that he will use Monday’s talks to push Erdogan to “reverse” Kariye’s conversion.
Last Monday, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis called the move a “provocation” but reiterated that “Athens is seeking as long a period of calm as possible in Greek-Turkish relations.”
Last December’s meeting did lead to some breakthroughs, such as new special visas for Turks to visit Greek islands near the Turkish coast. That has led to a tripling of Turkish visitors.
And Erdogan has not repeated any of his earlier threats to invade Greek islands to prevent their supposed militarization — threats that led the US Congress to block deliveries of F-16 fighters to Turkiye.
That veto was lifted in January, while the US approved the delivery of F-35s to Greece.
Since Turkiye’s military moves in 1974, disagreements remain over Cyprus, which is divided into the internationally recognized state of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkiye.
Turkiye and Greece have also struggled to cooperate on migration.
Migrants from Asia and Africa use the seas around both countries to reach Europe.
Frankly Speaking: Where will Gazans go after Rafah’s invasion?
Arab League assistant secretary general says Israel “mean and malignant” in seeking to drive Palestinians out and take the land for itself
Hossam Zaki also sets out expansive agenda of the upcoming Arab League summit in Bahrain
Updated 12 May 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: If Arab countries really cared about Gaza, they would throw open their borders to Palestinian refugees. That is a claim made repeatedly by Israel since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7 last year sparked the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
According to Ambassador Hossam Zaki, assistant secretary-general to the Arab League, this argument is deeply flawed — ignoring the fact that Arab nations already host millions of Palestinian refugees.
Furthermore, Zaki believes this argument ignores the stark reality that once the people of Gaza are displaced, the Israeli government is unlikely to permit their return — opting instead to seize the land for the state of Israel.
“If we really want the truth, the Israeli wish is to see that the Palestinian population would disappear from the Occupied Territories,” Zaki told Katie Jensen, host of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking.”
Hossam Zaki, assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, appearing on “Frankly Speaking.” (AN photos)
He added: “From the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, they would love for the Palestinians just to vanish. We all know that, because we know that they want the land. They want to grab the territory. They want to annex the territory to their state.”
In a wide-ranging interview, in which he discussed the forthcoming Arab League summit in Bahrain on May 16, efforts to halt Israel’s assault on Rafah, and the diminishing prospects for a two-state solution, Zaki said previous mass displacements would not be repeated.
“The Palestinians have learned from the mistakes of the past — from the 1948 war and 1967 war — that once they move out of their territory, the territory is confiscated by Israel, taken under control by Israel. And it seems to be such an uphill battle to get it back,” he said.
“The hope of getting back territory is ever so pale. So, what we are doing is, we are assisting the Palestinians to hold on to their territory, to hold on to their land, and not to move out of the land, because they know the consequences of moving out.”
Zaki was equally vehement in his rejection of the Israeli suggestion that the Arab states had failed to offer sanctuary to Palestinian refugees.
“They (the Israelis) can criticize us all they want,” he said. “We have Palestinians living in all Arab countries, some in refugee camps — very, very few — but most living like the normal citizens of these countries.
“In Egypt and in the Gulf countries, in Jordan, in North Africa, all Arab countries, you have Palestinians living.
“Normally, that is a criticism that we are willing to take, because we know that whatever is said in this regard means only to evacuate the territory for the benefit of the Israelis who want to grab it.”
Since the war in Gaza began seven months ago, the Arab League has been actively involved in trying to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, to arrange for sufficient aid to enter the enclave, and to keep the goal of Palestinian statehood on the agenda.
Hossam Zaki, assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, speaks to “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. (AN photos)
Zaki said the Arab League and its “heavyweight members” — including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Jordan — had continued to promote the Arab Peace Initiative, first unveiled 20 years ago, and were working to stop the “killing madness” continuing.
“But nothing has been successful so far,” he said. “Even the only resolution that the UN Security Council was able to adopt in order to stop the war, to cease the fire, was not implemented. It’s been adopted since, what, one month now? Nothing. As if there is nothing.”
Zaki believes Israel has been allowed to act with impunity owing to the protection and largesse of the US.
“Israel is basically a country that is pampered by the US, pampered by many of its allies, accomplices, so-called friends in the West,” he said.
“They condone what it is doing and they cannot stop it. They cannot stop this madness. Unfortunately, they gave it a carte blanche since the beginning and this is where we are.
“Seven months in this war — this criminal war — and nothing is happening. They are not capable of reigning in this country, this government of extremists.”
Asked whether the Arab League itself shares part of the blame for failing to bring an end to the conflict, Zaki laid responsibility entirely on Washington.
“Why would we — how could we — blame the Arab League?” he said. “The Arab League is not an accomplice in this. The Arab League is not giving bombs to Israel. The Arab League is not giving ammunition to Israel. The Arab League is not funding the Israeli aggression.
“The Arab League is a regional organization, a respectable regional organization, that is seeking peace, that is talking politics. It’s a diplomatic organization. We are willing to engage with whomever is seeking peace as well on the other side.
“Why do we say the US and the West? Because it is the US that’s funding Israel. It keeps transferring money to Israel, aid to Israel, munitions, bombs, weapons, whatever — you name it.”
Israel’s months-long bombardment and strangulation of aid flows has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure. Zaki believes Israel has deliberately sought to make Gaza inhospitable to compel the Palestinian population to abandon their land and accept refugee status abroad.
“The Israelis, in the nasty, very nasty, war against the Palestinians in Gaza, what they’re trying to do is not only to kill Palestinians … they did something which is much more nasty, actually: They have destroyed the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“They’ve destroyed the health infrastructure, the education infrastructure, the water infrastructure, the electricity infrastructure. This is mean and malignant, and they want to make it a point for the Palestinians who remain in the Gaza Strip — most of the inhabitants — to find this place uninhabitable.
“When the war ends, all the Palestinians would look around and see that this has become totally uninhabitable, so they would want to leave. But surprise to them, I would tell you from now — and mark my words — that is not going to happen.
“They’re going to reconstruct their state, their country. They’re going to reconstruct Gaza, and the Arabs are going to help them. You bet on that. And the international community has enough decent people, enough peace-loving people, who believe in Palestinian rights and who will help them rebuild their country after all the crimes that Israel has committed there.”
Furthermore, Israel has threatened to take over the Philadelphi Corridor — a narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border, established under the Philadelphi Accord in 2005 and which authorized Egypt to deploy 750 border guards to police its side of the border.
If Israel were to seize control of the Philadelphi Corridor, it could undermine the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, in which Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai in exchange for peace with Egypt and created the current border that bisects Rafah.
“They are playing with fire, and I think they know that,” said Zaki, himself an Egyptian diplomat.
“Those who are taking decisions on the Israeli side are taking a big risk. I do not think that, in their right mind, they would want to see an undermining of the main pillar of peace in the region, which is the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1979.”
Preparations are underway for the 33rd Arab League summit, during which the leaders of the 22 member states will discuss common challenges facing the region.
With multiple conflicts blighting the Middle East and North Africa, Zaki said there would be “a hefty agenda” this year. “Obviously the issue of the war on Gaza is going to be left, right and center in all of this,” he said.
“Sudan is a big issue for us. The war on Sudan has not receded. It’s been going on for more than a year. It’s unfortunate. We need to address that. The situation in Libya. The situation with Yemen is still a problem. Syria is still an issue for us.
“And, we have a set of other socioeconomic resolutions that are prepared for the leaders to adopt in their meetings. So we do have quite a hefty agenda for our summit this year.”
High on that agenda will no doubt be the prospects of reviving the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“There is no alternative to that solution,” said Zaki. “The Palestinians should have their own state. They should have their own independent contiguous state. Nothing should stand in their way and nothing, really, should justify assisting Israel in diluting this solution.”
But, given the destruction in Gaza, the ongoing spread of settlements in the West Bank, and the deep hostility felt on both sides, some might argue the region is moving further away from the two-state solution.
“No, we’re not moving further away,” said Zaki. “I think the world — which has pretty much paid lip service to this two-state solution for a couple of decades now — is now realizing that, well, lip service is not useful anymore, and we should really engage in active steps, like many European leaders have been saying, active steps.
“Even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that several months ago. We should all engage in active steps to make true the Palestinian state — to make it come about and to make it a reality.
Hossam Zaki, assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, speaks to “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. (AN photos)
“This is going to happen in the UN; one step closer, one step closer to Palestinian statehood. And things are going to move in this direction.
“The Israelis will have to resist that as they want to, and as they refuse to engage in peace talks, and they refuse to agree on Palestinian statehood. But it’s not up to them.
“We are trying to convince the rest of the world, especially the Western world, that Palestinian statehood should not be subject to an Israeli veto. Because if we do give the Israelis the veto over this, I think they will never agree on it. And a Palestinian state will never see the light of day.”
Kuwait forms new government headed by Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved parliament on Friday in a televised speech
Updated 2 min 24 sec ago
Arab News
RIYADH: Kuwait formed a new cabinet headed by Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait News Agency reported on Sunday.
Imad Mohamed Abdulaziz Al-Atiqi, Anwar Ali Abdullah Al-Mudhaf and Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Yahya retained their posts as oil, finance and foreign ministers respectively.
Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah also held onto his deputy prime minister and minister of interior and defense portfolio, as did Minister of Health Dr. Ahmad Abdulwahab Ahmad Al-Awadi.
Abdulrahman Badah Al-Mutairi retained his Minister of Information and Culture role, as did Adel Mohammad Al-Adwani who remains Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Nora Mohammad Al-Mashaan retained her Minister of Public Works and Minister of Municipality Affairs post.
Amthal Hadi Al-Huwailah was appointed Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Minister of Social Affairs, Family and Childhood Affairs.
Omar Saud Abdulaziz Al-Omar was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Communication Affairs.
Shereeda Abdullah Al-Moushejri was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.
Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wasmi was appointed Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
Mahmoud Abdulaziz Bushehri was appointed Minister of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy and Minister of State for Housing Affairs.
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved parliament on Friday in a televised speech.
