Once again, Qatar today, Sunday, renewed its denial of any involvement in a corruption case being investigated by Belgian authorities concerning individuals connected to the European Parliament, where Belgium accused four people linked to the European Parliament in allegations that Qatar, which is hosting the FIFA World Cup, lavished them with money and gifts to influence decision-making. Qatar has denied this on several occasions, confirming that it has committed no violations.

A statement issued today by a diplomat at Qatar's mission to the European Union said that "prejudgments" prompted the European Parliament to vote on Thursday to suspend work on legislation related to Qatar and prevent Qatari representatives from entering its premises. This legislation is related to the liberalization of visas, an aviation agreement between the European Union and Qatar, and planned visits until the allegations are confirmed or dropped.

The Qatari diplomat also said: "The decision to impose such discriminatory restrictions... will negatively affect regional and global security cooperation in addition to ongoing discussions about global poverty and energy security."

He also added that Qatar was subjected to "exclusive criticism and attack" in the European Parliament investigation, expressing extreme disappointment because the Belgian government "did not make any effort to communicate with the government of Qatar to ascertain the facts."

A spokesperson for the European Parliament refused to comment. Also, neither the Belgian Ministry of Justice nor the Public Prosecutor's Office responded to requests for comment, while the ministry had said on Wednesday that its intelligence agency worked closely with other European countries for more than a year to uncover the corruption scandal.