Eva Kaili, the Vice President of the European Parliament, has been charged with corruption. She is one of four suspects who have been charged and detained in relation to a police investigation into alleged lobbying by World Cup hosts Qatar. Belgian police are investigating allegations that figures working on behalf of Qatar have paid European politicians large bribes to influence the Brussels policy debate.

Mrs Kaili was arrested on Friday and has now been charged, along with three others. Two more have been released and the house of at least one more MEP has been searched by investigators. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office did not identify the four by name, but a judicial source confirmed that Mrs Kaili was among those charged.

Mrs Kaili has been stripped of her responsibilities as vice president of the parliament, but remains an MEP. She would normally enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution but there is an exception in cases where a suspect is caught red-handed in the act of committing an alleged crime. Belgian police detained Mrs Kaili in possession of “bags of cash” and so she was brought before a judge.

The former MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri and his fellow Italian Luca Visentini were also among the six arrested. The center-left Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament said that it has suspended Mrs Kaili’s membership of the group with immediate effect. Mrs Kaili has also been suspended by her party at home – the Greek Socialist party, Pasok-Movement for Change.

Questions of corruption are now expected to hang over this week’s European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg. The scandal erupted during the 2022 football World Cup, an event Qatar had hoped would boost its reputation but which has been dogged by allegations of mistreatment of the migrant workers who built the host’s new stadiums.

The arrest of Mrs Kaili and the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption have raised serious questions about the integrity of the European Parliament and the conduct of its members. It remains to be seen how the allegations will impact the reputation of the institution and the trust of its constituents.