‘Huawei lobbyists’ held in raids in Belgium over EU corruption happymamay

Belgian police raided several sites in the country as part of an investigation into corruption within the European Parliament.

Prosecutors said that the alleged corruption was “under the guise of commercial pressure”, and that many people had been arrested for interrogation.

According to the officials, a title in Portugal was searched by the local police regarding the case.

The Belgian newspaper Lu Sur said the investigation was linked to Chinese technology customers Huawei and its activities in Brussels since 2021. BBC has approached Huawei to comment.

“It is claimed that corruption is practiced regularly from 2021 to the present day, under the guise of commercial pressure and taking various forms, such as compensation for political positions or excessive gifts such as food expenses and calm, or regular calls for football matches,” the Prosecutor’s Office explained.

Lu Sur reported that many people suspected of being pressure groups in Huawei were arrested, due to the alleged bribery of current or former European Parliament (MEP) to promote the company’s commercial policy.

A police source told AFP that none of the members of Parliament were among those arrested on Thursday.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office told the newspaper that a total of 21 raids were made in Brussels, Fonders and Wolonia.

The investigation focuses on “active corruption within the European Parliament” as well as “forgery and the use of forged documents”, all in the framework of a “criminal organization”, the prosecutor’s office said, adding that he is also looking to discover possible money laundering.