Former European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili has requested that the Belgian judiciary rule on whether prosecutors broke the law while investigating her alleged involvement in the Qatargate corruption scandal.
According Sudinfo, the 44-year-old Greek politician's legal team argues that prosecutors violated Kaili's parliamentary immunity, to which she is entitled as a sitting MEP. The case will be heard by the Brussels Chamber of Indictments (La chambre des mises en accusation de Bruxelles) on Tuesday 19 September.
Kaili was arrested on 9 December last year on suspicion of accepting bribes and other favours from the Qatari and Moroccan governments in exchange for her support for pro-Qatari and pro-Moroccan legislation. She denies any involvement in the scandal.
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Upon her arrest, federal investigators discovered €150,000 in cash at Kaili's Brussels apartment. An additional €600,000 was found in a suitcase carried by Kaili's father as he was leaving a luxury hotel in central Brussels.
Following the revelations, Kaili was stripped of her position as Vice-President and expelled from her centre-left parliamentary group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Kaili remained in police custody until mid-April, when she was placed under house arrest. She was conditionally released in May and has since been free to resume her parliamentary duties.
Kaili's former partner, Francesco Giorgi, has already confessed to accepting bribes, although he denies that Kaili is guilty of any wrongdoing.
