Top lawmaker suspended amid lobbying scandal at EU assembly

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — A vice president of the European Union’s parliament was suspended by her party group after Belgian police carried out several raids linked to an investigation into suspected influence peddling by a Gulf state. The Socialists and Democrats in the EU assembly say they suspended Eva Kaili’s membership “with immediate effect, in response to the ongoing investigations.” It came after Belgian police staged 16 raids across Brussels as part of a probe into corruption and money laundering involving the parliament and an unidentified Gulf country. Prosecutors say four people were detained for questioning, one of them a former EU lawmaker. Police suspect the unspecified Gulf state of trying “to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament.”