Qatar says the EU’s anti-corruption measures could negatively affect their relationship

A statement from a Qatari diplomat criticized the Belgian authorities, saying “inaccurate” information had been used.

Six people, including MP Eva Kylie, were arrested in the operation after bags of money were discovered in one of the operations. It is supposed to be linked to this Gulf state and last week the European Parliament suspended Qatar’s access to the institution.

The diplomat said the decision to impose “this kind of discriminatory restrictions” before the end of the investigation “would negatively affect regional and global cooperation on security matters and ongoing discussions about energy poverty and global security.”

“We strongly reject these allegations linking our country to misconduct,” the official said, adding that Qatar was not the only party named in the investigation. “This week we noticed an alarmingly selective condemnation of our country,” the diplomat said.

Belgian prosecutors said they had been investigating the alleged corruption scheme in the European Parliament for more than a year before the searches and arrests in recent days.

“It is deeply disappointing that the Belgian government made no effort to contact our government to clarify the facts once it became aware of these allegations,” said the Qatari envoy.