The European Parliament has named five of its lawmakers whom Belgian prosecutors have targeted in a bribery scandal investigation involving Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies.
Authorities have asked the parliament to waive the lawmakers’ immunity so that they can be investigated under the probe, which has been running for two months.
They are accused of accepting gifts from Huawei in exchange for lobbying for the firm’s interests in the parliament.
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European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Wednesday named the lawmakers as Maltese Socialist MEP Daniel Attard, Bulgarian centrist lawmaker Nikola Minchev and three Italian members from the centre-right European People’s Party – Salvatore De Meo, Fulvio Martusciello and Giusi Princi.
The parliament’s committee on legal affairs will now consider the request from Belgium’s federal prosecutor and draft a report. The committee will vote on waiving immunity, after which a final decision will be taken in a vote of all the parliament’s 720 members.
Huawei has denied any wrongdoing, saying it “has a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption or other wrongdoing, and we are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations at all times”.
The development comes after Belgian authorities asked the body to remove immunity for the lawmakers so that their involvement in the gifts-for-influence affair could be investigated.
The scandal erupted in March when 100 Belgian police raided several premises in a case focused on “active corruption” in the parliament as well as for “forgery and use of false documents”.
“The corruption is said to have been practised regularly and very discreetly from 2021 to the present day,” the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement at the time.
It transpired “under the guise of commercial lobbying and taking various forms, such as remuneration for taking political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches”, the office added.
Following police raids on premises in Belgium, France and Portugal, eight people have been charged with active corruption, money laundering and criminal organisation. Among those charged is one of Huawei’s top executives in Europe, Politico reported.
Two of those named had already publicly confirmed that they were part of the investigation.
In a statement posted on social media, Attard said he watched a football match in Huawei’s corporate box at the stadium of the Brussels-based team Anderlecht.
“I was not made aware that the invitation originated from any company or that it involved a corporate box,” Attard said.
“It has since emerged that the invitation came from a person who is currently under investigation by the Belgian authorities and who intended to speak to me about Huawei during the match.”
Minchev, the Bulgarian MEP, told local media that he also attended a match in the Huawei box last October.
“I will cooperate 100 per cent and I will ask the EP to lift the immunity as quickly as possible,” Minchev said, adding that his assistant at the time had said “his friend and neighbour invited us to watch Anderlecht [play] Ludogorets at the stadium”.
“The organiser later turned out to be the main actor in an investigation that began in 2021, and my then-assistant was also involved in this case,” the Bulgarian politician added.
“My presence at that event is now the reason why the authorities want to investigate whether there was anything wrong with this.”
Martusciello was among the lawmakers who signed MEP letters to the commission four years ago criticising policies closing the European market to Chinese firms.
Princi, meanwhile, is accused of meeting with Huawei last summer but not declaring the engagement.
According to Euractiv, a media outlet, Princi denied having attended, claiming she was in Italy at her daughter’s school party that day and saying she could prove it with “numerous supporting documents”.
The scandal has upset the chances of a potential EU-China detente that has seen Beijing lift sanctions on sitting lawmakers to try to soothe ties that have deteriorated rapidly over the last few years.
More from South China Morning Post:
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