Brussels | The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday (Monday AEDT) that it had charged four people with corruption and other crimes as part of a major investigation into suspected bribes from Qatar to current and former officials and lawmakers in the European Parliament.

The prosecutor did not identify any of those accused and named only “a gulf state” when the charges were announced in this case. But a Belgian official directly involved in the case said the country allegedly involved was Qatar. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the news media.