Huawei is at the center of an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption within the European Parliament. Belgian Federal Police raided 21 locations across Belgium and in Portugal on Thursday morning and made arrests in Belgium and France as part of the investigation.
Disguised as commercial lobbying, the corruption is said to have begun in 2021 and taken the form of excessive gifts or remuneration for adopting certain political positions, the Belgian public prosecution service said in a statement.
Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei is said to have benefited from the alleged bribery, the public prosecution service said.
Although Huawei successfully introduced its wares into the heart of the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure, it faced an uphill struggle elsewhere in Europe, where authorities were concerned that it unfairly benefited from preferential financing by the Chinese government. Its effort to win European hearts and minds prompted Huawei to employ more lobbyists than Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple in the European Union.
Following Thursday’s raids, Belgian authorities declined to name any of those involved “in order to respect the presumption of innocence of the persons concerned and the investigation itself.” However, European media including investigative news site Follow The Money identified a lobbyist employed by Huawei who had previously worked for two Italian Members of the European Parliament as being at the center of the investigation. Follow The Money said 15 former and current MEPs are “on the radar” of the investigators.
Later Thursday, the investigating judge requested that two offices within the European Parliament building be sealed. The offices are allocated to two parliamentary assistants allegedly involved, the prosecution service said.
A spokesperson for the European Parliament said it always cooperates with such requests. “We have received a request for cooperation from the Belgian authorities to assist the investigation, which the Parliament will swiftly and fully honour,” the spokesperson said via email.
Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source:: Network World