Britain''s first Muslim MEP chairs EP ethics committee

BRUSSELS, March 19 (KUNA) -- British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Dr. Sajjad Karim will chair the first European Parliament ethics committee meeting Wednesday in the European Parliament.
Speaking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) ahead of the meeting, he explained that the five-member committee was formed by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, after allegations of corruption against four MEPS accused of having accepted payments in order to table amendments to certain legislation in the EP.
"And there fore it became absolutely essential that we as Parliament internally organize ourselves to ensure that we became much more transparent than before and that any avenues of corruption were closed," said Karim, the first and only British Muslim to chair this high level committee.
"We have to make very tough decisions in relation to colleagues and therefore we need to have our independence and that is why the appointment by the President of the EP," he noted.
"It is an official committee of the EP and we will continue advising the President on all relevant cases and if when they arise," he told KUNA.
Noting that European Parliament elections are to be held in May, Karim added "this means that there is going to be considerable amount of scrutiny on the activities of MEPs." British Conservative MEP, Sajjad Karim, is of Pakistani origin and also Chairman of the Friends of Pakistan group in the EP. (end) nk.mt KUNA 191811 Mar 14NNNN