Belgian lawmaker Marc Tarabella looks on before members of the European Parliament vote on lifting immunity for him and Italian lawmaker Andrea Cozzolino, both of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, who Belgian investigators want to question over a cash-for-influence corruption scandal, in Brussels, Belgium February 2, 2023. (Reuters)
European lawmaker Marc Tarabella has been charged with corruption, money laundering, and the membership of a criminal organization by a Belgian investigating judge.
The European Parliament member was remanded in custody, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said when contacted by Bloomberg News. A lawyer representing Tarabella didn’t return a phone call outside regular office hours.
Tarabella, who was excluded from the Belgian Socialist Party three weeks ago, was arrested on Friday after the European Parliament voted this month to waive immunity for him and also for Italy’s Andrea Cozzolino.
The two men have been linked to a high-profile bribery scandal. Belgian authorities since 2021 have investigated possible foreign interference in EU decision-making.
Investigators also carried out searches of a bank safe and several offices in the context of their probe into whether big-money bribes were paid to sway the outcome of European Parliament debates related to Qatar and Morocco.
