Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The European Public Prosecutor's Office requested Thursday that two members of the European Parliament have their immunity lifted.
In a statement, the European Chief Prosecutor requested that parliament members Eva Kaili and Maria Spyraki have their immunity lifted in relation to an alleged bribery scheme linked to Qatar.
"Based on an investigative report received from the European Anti-Fraud Office, there is a suspicion of fraud detrimental to the EU budget, in relation to the management of the parliamentary allowance, and in particular concerning the remuneration of Accredited Parliamentary Assets," the statement read.
Belgian authorities arrested Kaili, a Greek parliamentarian who served as one of the 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament, along with five other suspects last week in connection with the bribery scheme.
Kaili was also removed from her position as vice president following her arrest.
The scheme involved "large sums of money" and "substantial gifts," to members of parliament to influence decision-making to benefit Qatar.
The European Parliament voted on Thursday to suspend Qatari representatives' access to the lawmaking body as well as votes on issues related to Qatar for the time being.
"MEPs are appalled by the recent allegations that MEPs, former MEPs and EP staff are involved in corruption, money laundering and participation in criminal organization and support the full cooperation of the House with the ongoing investigation, noting that internal systems failed to prevent corruption," the parliament said.
It also expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest caused by "side jobs" in instances where MEPS "serve as managers, on the board of directors or on advisory boards of, or as consultants to banks, multinational companies or publicly traded companies."
In its statement, the parliament said that MEPs support a system of asset declarations at the beginning and end of each mandate that would "be accessible only to relevant authorities and would be checked if there are substantiated allegations."
Additionally MEPs committed to ensuring transparency of their additional income and prohibiting external financing of MEP and political groups' staff.
"Parliament will seek to establish an EU-level ban on donations from third countries to MEPs and political parties and asks the Commission to prepare a proposal on this end," the parliament said.