Qatargate: The inside story of the big Brussels bung
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2023
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s part thriller, part farce, starring a glamorous Greek MEP, an Italian toyboy and bundles of euros stuffed in suitcases and hidden under beds. So did Qatar buy its way into the European parliament?
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Host: Manveen Rana.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Finance doesn't need to be disrupted. |
| 0:03.0 | It means people who see the potential for progress, |
| 0:06.0 | like faster payments, more transparency, and new ways to meet compliance, |
| 0:11.0 | so that finance can move at the speed of business. |
| 0:15.0 | This is what our blockchain solutions deliver for financial institutions, |
| 0:19.0 | enterprises and central banks around the world. |
| 0:22.0 | Progress is a choice, and it's one you can make right now. |
| 0:26.0 | Ripple, crypto means business. |
| 0:39.0 | This is a story that will sound like a blockbuster political thriller, |
| 0:45.0 | but it's real. |
| 0:48.0 | And it all started on an ordinary Friday morning in Brussels. |
| 0:53.0 | A number of MEPs had already headed home for the weekend, |
| 0:57.0 | when the news began to break. |
| 1:00.0 | Belgian police, raided offices and homes linked to current and former MEPs, |
| 1:06.0 | prosecutors searched 16 houses. |
| 1:09.0 | They seized cash. |
| 1:11.0 | Along with computer equipment and mobile phones, |
| 1:14.0 | they discovered around $1.6 million worth of cash. |
| 1:18.0 | And the Belgian prosecutors are saying simply that this money must be explained. |
| 1:24.0 | Over the next few days, the secret operation, |
| 1:29.0 | which has been months in the planning, involving Belgian police, |
| 1:33.0 | and reportedly the intelligence services of five European countries, |
... |
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