Huaweigate: what we know so far

On March 13, two offices of the European Parliament were sealed, one belonging to the parliamentary assistants of Marco Falcone (Italy/EPP) and the other to the parliamentary assistant of Nikola Minchev (Bulgaria/New Europe). Additionally, police have carried out searches at Huawei’s headquarters in Brussels, as well as at 21 addresses in Brussels, the Belgian regions of Flanders and Wallonia, and Portugal.

On Friday, the European Parliament temporarily banned Huawei lobbyists from entering its premises – a precautionary measure in accordance with security regulations – following allegations of bribery linked to the Chinese company’s lobbying activities in the Chamber. The ban will remain in place until the authorities conclude their investigation.

The lobbyists of the Chinese tech giant have being investigated over allegations of bribing MEPs to influence EU decision-making that is said to have benefited Huawei. Nine Huawei employees were allowed to enter Parliament’s premises, according to the EU Transparency Register. 

According to the preliminary investigation, corrupt practices may have occurred regularly and discreetly from 2021, under the guise of commercial lobbying, and taking various forms: remuneration for the adoption of political positions, expensive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches, said the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.

On March 18, Belgian Public Prosecutors confirmed that four people have been charged with “active corruption and organizing a criminal organization” and another with money laundering. The latter has been released on bail, while arrest warrants have been issued for the others.

The arrests followed an investigation by Le Soir and other media outlets, which found that lobbyists working for the Chinese telecommunications giant were suspected of bribing current or former members of the European Parliament to promote the company’s trade policy in Europe.

Meanwhile, as reported by the ANSA news agency, the DG SAFE of the European Parliament has removed the seals from the office of MEP Falcone’s assistants, as evidence of being uninvolved in the matter. The MEP, pointing out that “the seals were placed even though he and his assistants were full unrelated to the investigation on Huawei”, is “evaluating the opportunity to take action, in the appropriate forum, for the damage to the image caused in recent days by the events that have occurred”.  

The federal investigation into the Huawei affair is ongoing. The new scandal might further hurt the reputation of the European institution, despite the European Parliament strengthening its ethics and transparency rules. Parliament President Roberta Metsola defended the institution’s integrity. In her first public comments after the corruption scandal broke out in the European Parliament, Metsola said in an interview with media brand Euractiv that the European Parliament’s reforms in the wake Qatargate scandal helped it identify alleged Huawei corruption earlier.