Several arrests

EU Parliament threatened by new corruption scandal

The EU Parliament

(Bild: LUDOVIC MARIN)

The European Parliament is threatened by a new corruption scandal. Several suspects have been provisionally arrested. They are accused of taking bribes for business interests. According to Belgian media reports, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is behind the attempts to exert influence.

The federal public prosecutor's office in Brussels announced on Thursday that the police had carried out 21 house searches in Portugal and Belgium. Several suspects had been temporarily detained. At the request of the authorities, full cooperation is always provided, said a spokeswoman for the EU Parliament. There have probably been no searches in the Parliament itself so far.

The names of the suspects were not initially disclosed. It therefore remains unclear whether and how many MEPs are the focus of the authorities, or whether they are other employees.

Remuneration for political statements
According to the public prosecutor's office, corruption has been regularly practised since 2021 "under the guise of commercial lobbying in various forms". These include payments for political statements and inappropriate gifts such as regular invitations to soccer matches or the payment of restaurant and travel expenses.

In addition, money may have been paid to middlemen for conference costs. The Belgian public prosecutor's office is also investigating suspected money laundering. Several documents and objects have been confiscated, but they must first be analyzed, it was reported on Thursday.

Several documents and objects have been seized and need to be analyzed further.

Staatsanwaltschaft in Belgien

According to media reports, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is behind the interference attempts. Chinese technology in Western mobile communications has been the subject of debate for years. Critics fear that China's government could gain access to cell phone networks via companies.