DOHA (CNBC) – Qatar’s
Foreign Minister said his country should not be dragged into a corruption scandal at the European Parliament with investigations still ongoing, rejecting allegations of Doha’s involvement as having “no basis”.
“As (the) State of Qatar, we are 100 percent sure that this premise has no basis. We didn’t see anything (from Belgian authorities). There’s an ongoing investigation. We have to see; we have to wait until the investigation is over,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told CNBC.
“This problem is a problem that is happening in Europe for a European institution. It is better for them to look at their own institution and do all the steps required for them and not to drag our country’s name in such a situation,” he added.
The investigations started last year and have homed in on a meeting of the European Parliament’s sub-committee on human rights, where Qatar’s Minister for Labor, Ali bin Samikh al-Marri, defended his country’s record on workers’ rights.
Qatar is accused of targeting officials “with a significant political and/or strategic position” at the parliament, sending them “substantial amounts of money” and “important gifts”, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
Last week, senior MEP, Maria Arena, quit her role as chair of the European Parliament’s sub-committee on human rights, blaming attacks by journalists and political rivals, amid the continued Qatar corruption case.