A muscular Belgian police dragnet that has exposed a culture of widespread corruption at the European Parliament linked to World Cup host Qatar has set off alarm bells at Rome, where there is growing concern the tiny Gulf State country could be underwriting a new generation of radical Muslims in Europe.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that the Qatar Charity has spent more than $23 million to bankroll the construction of 45 mosques and “Islamic centers” around Italy, from Brescia in the north to Sicily in the south. 

The information comes as a probe widens into alleged attempts by Qatar to bribe high-ranking European officials at Brussels ahead of the World Cup. The information underscores just how pervasive are Qatari funds in the world’s eighth-largest economy. 

Nominally an independent entity, the Qatar Charity is controlled by the government of Qatar and lists UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee aid group, as one of its partners. The report cited the 2019 book “Qatar Papers: How Doha finances the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe” to back some of its claims and  said that the Muslim Brotherhood, “a movement supported by Qatar on a global level,” is “promoting the spread of a type of Islam incompatible with European values ​​and human rights.”

Exactly how many Qatar-backed Islamic religious centers have already been built and how many are still in the planning stages was not immediately clear and was not noted by others in the Italian press, which for the moment is mostly focused on the bribery scandal. 

Part of the reason for that is the Italian ties of a Greek vice president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, whose home Belgian police raided last week and who along with three others was jailed on charges of corruption, money laundering, and participation in a criminal organization. Ms. Kaili’s Italian partner, Francesco Giorgi, was detained and another Italian arrested, Antonio Panzeri, a former European Parliament member.

Italy, La Repubblica reported, is front and center in Qatar’s global strategy which includes a desire to outshine its neighborhood “frenemies” Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in an ongoing quest to make inroads into Europe. 

It is making progress along that path through things like mosque-building and the “acquisitions of brands such as Valentino and some of the most iconic hotels” in Italy, but also though the “massive use of public relations companies and consequent obtaining of favorable media coverage, and a diplomacy that often goes far beyond what is lawful, such as the cultivation of ‘friendly’ politicians, as the Belgian investigation seems to demonstrate.”

 Qatari officials continue to reject any accusations of involvement  in the graft scandal but the assiduousness of the Belgian investigators makes Qatari denials less plausible with each passing day. Belgian police have already seized more than  $1.6 million from raids on 19 houses and parliamentary offices. The Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, told reporters that Belgium’s police force was doing “what the European Parliament hasn’t done.” 

The probe is laying bare Doha’s dubious agenda with respect to its erstwhile European friends, with fresh details emerging on an almost hourly basis. Britain’s Sun newspaper reports that a European Parliament lawmaker from Cyprus, Loucas Fourlas, claimed that Ms. Kaili, a telegenic former television presenter, had asked him to soften a report that was critical of Qatar’s record on LGBTQ rights. According to a separate report from the State Department, that record is not great.

The investigation has not only also thrown a spotlight on rampant corruption in the unofficial capital of the European Union but has also badly marred Qatar’s public image, at least in Europe. Speculation is growing that Qatar in effect bought off officials not only to gain influence but possibly in order to host the World Cup itself — and the scope of the probe may have jarred some politicians from their past reticence to voice their concerns. 

One such is a former Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, currently the main opposition leader. In an interview with the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, Mr. Tsipras called the decision to have the World Cup in Qatar “negative and self-degrading.” He said that the eight stadiums for the sporting event “were built in galley conditions and left 6,500 workers dead” and that he “would not legitimize this World Cup with my presence.”

Mr. Tsipras criticized Qatar as “a country without a football tradition and above all one without any freedom” but where “other kinds of self-interest, which we see coming to light in the last few days” are rewarded.

Italian police are also part of the ongoing dragnet. The wife and daughter of Mr. Panzeri, the former Italian member of the European Parliament, were arrested on Friday — according to a European arrest warrant obtained by the Telegraph, the Panzeri couple “had a credit card paid for by an unknown third person the couple called The Giant, and spent 100,000 euros on a Christmas holiday.”

More repercussions at Rome are almost certain to come. Matteo Salvini’s Lega, or League, party, which forms part of Italy’s governing coalition along with the Brothers of Italy party of Prime Minister Meloni, has in the past called for more oversight of Qatari funds and investments in Italy. Subsequently, according to La Repubblica,  Mr. Salvini in a Facebook live broadcast from Doha praised “a country that grows, that welcomes, that wants to work with Italy.”