Brussels – Belgian federal police searched 21 apartments and offices of lobbyists and former lobbyists of Huwaei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, at dawn this morning (March 13) and reportedly ordered precautionary measures for some of them, suspected of bribing elected members of the European Parliament to influence EU policies in favor of the company. This scenario would undermine the credibility of the Brussels Chamber, which was already put to the test two years ago by the Qatargate scandal – for which the investigation is still underway.
According to reports in the Belgian daily Le Soir, the weekly Knack, the Dutch investigative platform Follow The Money, and Greek investigative journalists from Reporters United, at least 15 MEPs and former MEPs are reportedly involved. This morning’s raid comes after months of investigation as part of a file opened for the heads of corruption, forgery, money laundering, and criminal organization. A file — codenamed Génération — that remained under wraps until today.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office confirmed that several lobbyists are now in custody, to be questioned and possibly heard by the investigating judge. According to Le Soir, however, the main suspect is missing from the roll call: he is the current public relations director of Huawei’s office at the European Union, who previously was a parliamentary assistant to two former Italian MEPs for ten years. The Belgian newspaper suggests that the alleged bribery was through gifts of (modest) value – such as Huawei smartphones and devices and tickets to soccer matches – or through transfers of several thousand euros. According to parliamentary rules, every gift received that exceeds the value of 150 euros must be declared.
“Bribery was allegedly practiced regularly and very discreetly from 2021 to the present, in the form of commercial lobbying and taking various forms, such as compensation for political stances or outsized gifts, such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to soccer games,” the federal prosecutor’s office confirmed to Le Soir, without mentioning Huawei’s name. The Chinese company itself has not commented on the news for now.
Without commenting on the substance of the investigation, the European Commission recalled that “the security of our 5G network is obviously crucial for our economy.” In the race to deploy fifth-generation networks, Brussels assessed Huawei as a “high-risk supplier,” which could expose European infrastructure to threats of dependence and espionage. In June 2023, the Commission called on member countries to restrict or exclude the Chinese company from the 5G network, and Executive Vice President in charge of Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunnen, a few months ago told the European Parliament that the measures taken so far by the 27 member states “were insufficient.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
