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ATHENS — Belgian authorities issued a European arrest warrant for Greece’s former European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, in connection with the Qatargate scandal, according to two senior Greek officials involved in the judicial process who were granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the issue.
The Qatargate scandal broke out in December 2022 — after Avramopoulos had left the Commission — when Belgian police launched a series of raids on properties and offices in Brussels, arrested key suspects, and seized bags of cash in one of the biggest corruption investigations to hit the EU. The core allegations are that suspects linked to the European Parliament accepted money or gifts in exchange for doing Qatar’s bidding.
“The former commissioner is charged with participation in a criminal organization, with authorities linking the case to the income he received from a nongovernmental organization at the heart of the scandal,” said one of the senior Greek officials.
Belgian authorities summoned the former commissioner to testify almost a year ago, but he did not show up, said the second senior Greek official.
