cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30940295
Chinese tech giant Huawei is at the centre of a new corruption case in Europe’s capital. On Thursday, Belgian police raided the homes of its lobbyists, Follow the Money and its media partners Le Soir and Knack can reveal.
Authorities suspect that Huawei lobbyists have paid bribes to MEPs in return for backing their cause in the European Union. Around 15 former and current MEPs are “on the radar” of the investigators.
In the early hours, Belgium’s federal police raided Huawei’s EU office and the homes of lobbyists for the Chinese tech company on suspicions of bribery, forgery, money laundering and criminal organisation, people close to the investigation told Follow the Money and Belgian outlets Le Soir and Knack.
Twenty-one addresses were searched in total, in Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia and in Portugal, as part of the sweeping corruption probe. Several documents and objects have been seized. No searches have taken place at the European Parliament.
“Around fifteen (former) MEPs are on the radar of the investigation”
Police were looking for evidence that representatives of the Chinese company broke the law when lobbying members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the sources said. The dawn raids were part of a covert police investigation that started about two years ago after a tip-off from the Belgian secret service.
According to one source close to the case, “around fifteen (former) MEPs are on the radar” of the investigators. For current lawmakers, Belgian prosecutors would have to ask the European Parliament to waive their immunity in order to investigate further. No such request has been made yet, sources said.
The Belgian federal prosecutors’ office confirmed that “several people were questioned. They will be heard about their alleged involvement in practices of bribery in the European Parliament and in forgery and use of forged documents. The facts are supposed to have been committed in a criminal organisation.” The state security service declined to comment.
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Investigators suspect that Huawei lobbyists may have committed similar crimes by bribing MEPs with items including expensive football tickets, lavish gifts, luxurious trips to China and even cash to secure their support of the company while it faced pushback in Europe. Payments to one or several lawmakers have allegedly passed through a Portuguese company, a source said.
Several EU nations have taken action in recent years to restrict or ban “high-risk” vendors such as Huawei from their 5G networks, following warnings from the United States and the European Commission that the company’s equipment could be exploited for espionage by Beijing. Huawei has strongly denied claims of interference from the Chinese government.
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The possible involvement of Huawei will also be part of the probe, the people familiar said. Authorities are investigating suspected offences including criminal organisation and money laundering […]
The probe comes at a critical moment for the EU’s relations with China, its second biggest trading partner. US President Donald Trump’s recent threats and tariffs have been framed as an opportunity for a rapprochement between the EU and Beijing after years of escalating tensions.
“We could even expand our trade and investment ties [with China],” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU ambassadors last month.
The Belgian police’s investigation therefore risks having major geopolitical repercussions, especially if authorities charge Huawei along with any individual suspects.
Huawei’s links with the Chinese government
While Huawei has consistently maintained its independence from the Chinese government, researchers have found that the tech giant is 99 per cent owned by a union committee, and argued that independent unions don’t exist in China. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei served in the Chinese military for 14 years before setting up the company, according to the recent book House of Huawei by journalist Eva Dou of the Washington Post.
Former Huawei employees who were granted anonymity to talk freely about sensitive issues told Follow the Money how the company over the past five years has grown increasingly close to the Chinese government – and increasingly hostile towards the West.
The arrest of Ren’s daughter and Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada, China’s crackdown on tech firms seen as too independent from the state and Russia’s war in Ukraine were among the events that accelerated this shift, the former Huawei staffers said.
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One of the main suspects in the corruption probe is 41-year-old Valerio Ottati. The Belgian-Italian lobbyist joined Huawei in 2019, when the company was ramping up its lobbying in the face of US pressure on European countries to stop buying its 5G equipment.
Before becoming Huawei’s EU Public Affairs Director, Ottati worked for a decade as an assistant to two Italian MEPs – from the centre-right and centre-left – who were both members of a European Parliament group dealing with China policy.
Ottati was not immediately available for comment. The investigation is still in an early stage and it remains to be seen whether Ottati or the other suspects in the case will be charged with criminal offences.
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