EU lawmaker held for graft questioning

BRUSSELS — An EU lawmaker linked to a corruption scandal that rocked the bloc’s Parliament in December was detained for questioning as police conducted further raids, Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said Friday.

The office said police searched a banking safe in the city of Liege belonging to Belgian lawmaker Marc Tarabella. Offices in the town hall of Anthisnes, where Tarabella serves as mayor, were also raided.

The European Union’s parliament earlier this month removed Tarabella’s protective immunity to ensure he could be questioned by investigators. The assembly voted overwhelmingly to lift his parliamentary protection as well as that of another lawmaker, Italian Andrea Cozzolino.

Both men have said through their lawyers that they were willing to cooperate with Belgian authorities.

The prosecutor’s office said Taraballa was detained for questioning, adding that it was now up to the investigating judge to decide whether he would be heard within the next hours.

Tarabella has denied any links to the scandal, in which Qatari and Moroccan officials are suspected of offering bribes to influence decisions at the European Parliament. Qatar and Morocco have also vehemently denied involvement, but the assembly has suspended work on all Qatar-related files.

According to the report compiled to lift Taraballa’s immunity, a Belgian investigation showed that he “may have been involved in acts of corruption connected with interference by one or more foreign states aimed at influencing the debates and decisions taken in the European Parliament.”

It said “testimony against him suggests that such payments were made to him on several occasions, amounting to a total of between” $132,000 and $154,000.