According to reports, the Belgian police searched several locations as part of a corruption examination within the European Parliament.
According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the investigation has been connected to the activities of the Chinese provider Huawei since 2021.
The newspaper reported yesterday (March 13) that the alleged corruption was “under the guise of commercial lobbying”.
Several people were arrested for survey, while an address in Portugal was also searched by the local police. One person was also arrested in France.
Le Soir noticed that the detained people are suspected of being lobbyists for Huawei. Those who supposedly tried to bribe current and former members of the European Parliament to promote the company's interests within the block.
A Huawei spokesman told DCD The company “takes these allegations seriously” and “” will “communicate with the examination in order to further understand the situation”.
They added: “Huawei has a zero tolerance directive compared to corruption or other misconduct, and we are obliged to comply with all applicable laws and regulations at any time.”
Le Soir reports that Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia in all of Belgium, all over Belgium, in the Brussels regions, took place in the regions.
“Corruption was said to be regular and very discreet from 2021 to the present day under the guise of commercial lobbying and taking various forms such as compensation for political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel costs or regular invitations,” said the Belgian public prosecutor in a statement.
Two offices in the European Parliament were sealed by the Belgian police at the request of the judge responsible for the case.
Huaweis European challenge
Huawei has suspended a difficult time in Europe in recent years.
In 2020, the EU Commission (EC) asked the EU countries to restrict “high-risk ependors” such as Huawei when they introduced their national 5G networks.
Last year, the German government ordered its mobile airlines to completely remove Chinese components in their domestic 5G networks by 2029.
The ban was a U-turn after the German government said in December 2022 that it was not a striving to impose a ban on Huawei, and that the Chinese telecommunications providers would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have held Huawei from playing a role in their 5G network infrastructure. Although the United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU, it initially granted the seller a limited role in his 5G building before banning the company six months later in July 2020.
As early as 2020, the EC opposed the pressure on a complete ban on the United States, in which President Donald Trump increased the efforts to ban Huawei from a key role in 5G networks.
