'Huawei lobbyists' held in Belgium raids over EU corruption

Belgian constabulary person raided respective locations successful the state arsenic portion of an probe into corruption wrong the European Parliament.

Prosecutors said the alleged corruption was "under the guise of commercialized lobbying", and that respective radical had been detained for questioning.

According to officials, an code successful Portugal was besides searched by section constabulary successful narration to the case.

Belgian paper Le Soir said the probe was linked to Chinese tech elephantine Huawei and its activities successful Brussels since 2021. The BBC has approached Huawei for comment.

"Corruption was allegedly practiced regularly and precise discreetly from 2021 to the contiguous day, nether the guise of commercialized lobbying and taking assorted forms, specified arsenic compensation for governmental positions oregon excessive gifts specified arsenic nutrient and question expenses, oregon regular invitations to shot matches," the prosecutor's bureau explained.

Le Soir reported that respective radical suspected of being lobbyists moving for Huawei were detained, implicit the alleged bribery of existent oregon erstwhile members of the European Parliament (MEP) to beforehand the company's commercialized policy.

A constabulary root told AFP quality bureau that nary MEPs were among those arrested connected Thursday.

A full of 21 raids were conducted successful Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, the prosecutor's bureau told the newspaper.

The probe focuses connected "active corruption wrong the European Parliament" arsenic good arsenic "forgery and usage of forged documents", each wrong the model of a "criminal organisation", the prosecutor's bureau said, adding that it was besides looking to uncover imaginable wealth laundering.