Prosecutors target five EU lawmakers in Huawei graft probe

BELGIUM: Belgian prosecutors have asked the European Parliament to lift the immunity of five lawmakers over a graft probe involving Chinese tech giant Huawei, the parliament chief said Wednesday.

Most of those targeted have denied any wrongdoing, with one claiming she was the victim of “mistaken identity”.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola named the five as Maltese socialist Daniel Attard, Bulgarian centrist Nikola Minchev, and Italy’s Salvatore de Meo, Giusi Princi and Fulvio Martusciello — all from the centre-right.

The requests would be assessed by the parliamentary committee on legal affairs, Metsola told a plenary session of the parliament in Brussels.

The corruption scandal — the second to rock the EU body in recent years — erupted in March after police launched a series of raids in Belgium and Portugal.

Investigators suspect Huawei lobbyists of offering gifts to lawmakers who would then defend its interests in Brussels.

Eight people have been charged on counts including corruption, money laundering and participating in a criminal organisation.

But prosecutors have released few details on the case and the evidence against those accused.

Some of the lawmakers involved disputed the grounds on which prosecutors asked for their immunity to be lifted, with one accusing Belgian authorities of overreach.

Princi said she was accused of attending a meeting last June that she did not participate in, for on that day she was in Italy for her “daughter’s end-of-year school play”.

“I trust that this obvious mistake in identity will be clarified as soon as possible,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

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De Meo said he was “surprised” by the “unfounded” request, which related to his participation in a “convivial gathering”, with drinks and dinner also attended by Huawei representatives.

“I have never taken a position in favour of Huawei,” he said in a statement. “If we were to consider that taking part in an informal meeting alone is sufficient grounds to start a legal action, that would seriously limit our parliamentary activities”.

Minchev and Attard said they were both targeted for being invited to football games of Brussels’ side Anderlecht through their assistants.

Attard said his aide asked “to join him and his son at what was meant to be a private and informal event” but it later emerged the invitation came from a person currently under investigation “who intended to speak to me about Huawei during the match”.

“I had no prior knowledge of this, nor had I had any prior contact with that individual,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media.

Minchev similarly said his former assistant, who is under investigation, told him that “his friend and neighbour was inviting us” to the stadium as part of a family birthday celebration — but that also in this case the organiser turned out to be among those investigated by Belgian prosecutors.

De Meo, Minchev and Attard all said they were ready to cooperate with the authorities.

Martusciello did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Huawei has previously said it takes the graft allegations “seriously” and has “a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption”.

The probe comes two years after the “Qatargate” scandal, in which EU lawmakers were accused of being paid to promote the interests of Qatar and Morocco — something both countries deny.