On 15 September, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev sharply criticised the European Parliament, calling it a “den of corrupt officials”, according to the Open4business website. He made this statement in Baku during a meeting with participants at international conferences. The quote is confirmed by the official transcript on the Azerbaijani President’s website.
Aliyev referred to the Qatargate corruption scandal, which erupted in the European Parliament at the end of 2022 and involved the former Vice-President of the European Parliament, the Greek politician Eva Kaili. Suitcases containing millions of dollars were seized from his vice-president’s home, after which, according to Aliyev, the case was allegedly hushed up. He also accused the European Parliament of bias against Azerbaijan and Islamophobia.
However, the actual facts of the case differ somewhat from the Azerbaijani president’s account. In December 2022, Belgian investigators did indeed discover around EUR1.5 million in cash in connection with Qatargate; however, the money was seized from several locations: approximately EUR150,000 in Kayli’s flat, approximately EUR750,000 in a suitcase belonging to her father, and a further EUR600,000 at the home of another person implicated in the investigation.
Kylie was arrested in December 2022, stripped of her position as Vice-President of the European Parliament and held in custody for some time. Therefore, Aliyev’s assertion that ‘no measures were taken’ against her does not correspond to the full chronology of the case. Kylie herself denies having committed any offences.
It is also too early to say that the case has been closed or officially ‘swept under the carpet’. As of the end of June 2026, the Belgian investigation into Qatargate was still ongoing and had not yet reached the court stage. In February 2026, the Brussels Court of Appeal dismissed the procedural objections raised by the main defendants and authorised the investigation to continue. At the same time, the investigation has come under criticism due to its length and a number of procedural issues.