Qatargate corruption inquiry widens as police question new suspect MEP Maria Arena

BRUSSELS — Police widened their investigation into allegations of corruption in the European Parliament to include a new lawmaker: the Belgian socialist MEP Maria Arena.

Over a year into the so-called Qatargate scandal, Belgian detectives interviewed Arena as a suspect for the first time, according to federal prosecutor’s spokesperson Eric Van Duyse.

For months Arena’s name has been linked to other suspects involved in the alleged corruption ring but her own possible involvement has remained a mystery. The Belgian lawmaker has strongly denied any criminal wrongdoing from the start.

Until now the police had not questioned her, despite compiling information about her ties to Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former MEP who struck a plea bargain with prosecutors and admitted taking money from Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania in exchange for political favors in the EU’s Parliament.

Neither Arena nor her lawyer immediately responded to a request for comment on Friday.

The news about Arena was first reported by Belgian daily Le Soir and RTBF.

“Don’t put yourself out of the game,” Panzeri told Arena in August 2022 during a meal at the now-defunct Salvarino pizzeria in Brussels, according to police files seen by POLITICO. “Because if you are in the game, then I am going to amass more money,” he told her.

Police raided Arena’s properties in Brussels last summer in the presence of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, finding a large sum of money at the apartment of one of her sons — though that has not been directly linked to the Qatargate probe.

Arena is a member of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) faction in the European Parliament, and the Belgian Socialist party.

An EU official said there has been no request by the Belgian authorities to lift her immunity — a prerequisite in order for police to arrest her.

Three other MEPs — Eva Kaili, Andrea Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella — have been handed preliminary charges as part of the probe. The suspects’ lawyers allege serious problems with the way the Belgians have conducted the investigation.

“We don’t comment on ongoing judicial investigations,” said an S&D spokesperson.