A new graft scandal rocked the European Parliament after police on Thursday carried out raids in Belgium and Portugal, detaining multiple suspects in a probe into suspicions of corruption under the guise of lobbying for the benefit of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The new investigation comes more than two years after the “Qatargate” scandal, in which a number of EU lawmakers were accused of being paid to promote the interests of Qatar and Morocco — something both countries have firmly denied.
None of those held for questioning on Thursday were EU lawmakers, a police source said. However, Belgian media reported more than a dozen parliamentarians were on the detectives’ radar.
Photo: AP
Transparency campaigners, who have accused EU lawmakers of resisting reform, called on the parliament to immediately investigate the latest claims.
“The alleged bribery is said to have benefitted Huawei,” the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said after local media reported the probe focused on the company.
Huawei said it took the allegations “seriously” and would “urgently communicate with the investigation to further understand the situation.”
“Huawei has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption or other wrongdoing, and we are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations at all times,” it said in a statement yesterday.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office earlier said several people were taken in for questioning over their “alleged involvement in active corruption within the European Parliament, as well as for forgery and use of forgeries.”
The investigating judge ordered seals on the European Parliament offices of two parliamentary assistants and a suspect had been arrested in France, it added in a second statement on Thursday afternoon.
The EU parliament said it had received a request for cooperation from the Belgian authorities and would “swiftly and fully honor” it.
Prosecutors said the alleged corruption by a “criminal organization” was “practiced regularly and very discreetly from 2021 to the present day” and took “various forms.”
These included “remuneration for taking political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches” as part of a bid to promote “purely private commercial interests” in political decisions.
The alleged kickbacks were concealed as conference expenses and paid to various intermediaries, the office said, adding it was looking at whether money laundering had also been involved.
About 100 police officers took part in the operation, which included a total of 21 searches conducted across Belgium and in Portugal, it added.
Belgium’s Le Soir daily said the Portuguese search focused on a company through which transfers had allegedly been made to one or more EU lawmakers.
Portugal’s prosecutor general confirmed the raids were conducted “at the request of the Belgian authorities,” but did not provide more details.
At the heart of the alleged corruption is a former parliamentary assistant who was employed as Huawei’s EU public affairs director, Belgian media said.
Huawei has been in the EU’s crosshairs in recent years.
Brussels in 2023 described the telecoms giant as a higher risk to the bloc than other 5G suppliers and called on EU states to exclude its equipment from their mobile networks.
Le Soir said police had taken “several lobbyists” into custody and they were due to appear in front of a judge for questioning.
Transparency defenders were scathing in their criticism of the parliament’s lack of wide-ranging reforms after the 2022 scandal.
“These new allegations are as sweeping and serious as Qatargate and make a mockery of democracy at the European Parliament. For too long, MEPs have taken a carefree approach to ethics and continue to exist in a culture of impunity,” Transparency International EU director Nicholas Aiossa said.
He urged swift and deep reform in the parliament, a call echoed by former transparency campaigner and current Green EU lawmaker, Daniel Freund.
“This painfully shows that following Qatargate the EU remains vulnerable to corruption. Some reforms are still being blocked,” Freund said, adding: “We finally need independent oversight for ethics violations.”
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes, but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), former head of China’s National Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s Sina Weibo platform. China’s
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced plans for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an anti-Semitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and
RSS