Several people have been arrested in a graft investigation related to the European Parliament and Chinese tech giant Huawei, Belgian prosecutors said Thursday.
The suspects are to be questioned over their “alleged involvement in active corruption within the European Parliament, as well as for forgery and use of forgeries,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
Further accusations include accepting payments and “excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches” in exchange for promoting “purely private commercial interests.”
The prosecutor’s office confirmed that the alleged bribery “is said to have benefited Huawei” and is thought to have been going on regularly since 2021.
Roughly 100 police officers carried out 21 raids across both Belgium and Portugal, the office added.
Who is behind the scandal?
Details about the arrested individuals have not been released.
None of those detained for questioning are EU lawmakers, a police source told reporters. But Belgian media said more than a dozen parliamentarians were on the detectives’ radar.
The media described the suspects as “lobbyists” and said one of the central figures in the probe is a former parliamentary assistant who previously served as Huawei’s European public affairs director.
Huawei said it took the bribery allegations seriously and would communicate with authorities to fully understand the situation.
“Huawei 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 telecommunications company said in a statement.
Transparency advocates say the new allegations “make a mockery of democracy at the European Parliament.”
“For too long, MEPs have taken a carefree approach to ethics and continue to exist in a culture of impunity,” said Nicholas Aiossa, director at Transparency International EU.
The latest incident comes just over two years after the “Qatargate” scandal rocked Brussels. In that in affair, a number of EU lawmakers were accused of being paid to promote the interests of Qatar and Morocco. Both countries denied wrongdoing.
This article was updated on March 14, 2025 to include a comment by Huawei.