Moroccan officials quizzed in Qatargate scandal

BRUSSELS: Several Moroccan officials have been questioned as part of a high-profile investigation into alleged bribery by the north African state and Qatar at the European Parliament, Belgian prosecutors said Saturday.

The interviews in Morocco -- conducted by local authorities in the presence of Belgian investigators -- were the first in the country since Brussels launched a sprawling graft probe in 2022.

“Belgian investigators travelled to Morocco this week, along with the examining magistrate and a magistrate from the federal public prosecutor’s office, for investigative duties and interviews,” a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The spokesman refused to give the identities of those interviewed.

But the RTBF news channel and Le Soir newspaper reported that one of the people questioned was Morocco’s ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun.

The 68-year-old diplomat is suspected of having played a pivotal role in helping to funnel money to pay off European legislators. The so-called “Qatargate” scandal -- which rocked the EU’s governing institutions -- focuses on purported attempts by foreign governments to buy influence at the European Parliaments.