In the midst of the Qatar investigation, Eva Kaili denies the claims of wrongdoing.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

Greek socialist Eva Kaili, the vice president of the European Parliament, refuted allegations of corruption on Tuesday after being detained in Belgium for her alleged participation in a scheme to influence political and economic decision-making within the European institution by paying bribes. According to claims made by one of her attorneys, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, to the Greek TV network, the Republic of Greece is still defending her innocence.

The lawyer, who has stated that he is unsure of whether money has been recovered and, if so, how much, claims that it has absolutely nothing to do with the flow of money from Qatar. In this way, he has refuted the information reported by the Greek media, which claims that 160,000 euros were found stashed under the daughter of Kaili. Dimitrakopoulos asserted, "There was no crib."

On Wednesday, Kaili is expected to testify in court, and the judge will decide whether to release her or keep her in custody. One of the six suspects held in Belgium since Friday as part of the corruption investigation is the socialist. According to information from the ERT chain, four of them are currently still being held, including Kaili, her boyfriend, and former MEP Antonio Panzeri. While they look into whether there has been an unauthorised money flow, the Greek authorities, for their part, have frozen the assets of Kaili, her sister, and her parents. The European Parliament will vote today at noon on whether to remove her from her position as vice president of the body.

The Vice President Kaili is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering with ties to Qatar. On Tuesday, the leaders of the European Parliament groups formally proposed the Vice President be fired. Tuesday morning during a debate in the institution's plenary session in Strasbourg, Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, announced the proposal for her dismissal. The announcement was met with some applause.

The Greek vice president's resignation was demanded by Kaili's own party, the Social Democrats, and Metsola convened an extraordinary meeting this morning to vote on it. This was done in accordance with article 21 of the internal regulations, which allows for the early termination of a charge if it is found that the vice president has engaged in serious misconduct.

The so-called Conference of the Presidents of the European Parliament, which includes Metsola and the heads of the political formations, unanimously voted to have Kaili removed from her position. This afternoon, the group will ask the chamber to approve the proposal, which needs a two-thirds majority. The most prominent defendant in this case, Kaili, had already been kicked out of the Social Democratic party on Monday, and President Metsola had relieved her of her vice president duties, which included dealing with the Middle East, over the weekend.