BRUSSELS – The European Parliament stated on March 14 it has barred Huawei representatives from its premises, a day after police made a sequence of arrests in a probe into suspected corruption on behalf of the Chinese language tech large.
Huawei has 9 representatives accredited to the parliament’s premises in Brussels and Strasbourg, in response to the EU transparency register.
Police carried out coordinated raids on March 13 in Belgium and Portugal and detained a number of folks for questioning over “alleged involvement in energetic corruption inside the European Parliament, in addition to for forgery and use of forgeries”.
The raids come lower than two years after the “Qatargate” scandal, during which EU lawmakers have been accused of being paid to advertise the pursuits of Qatar and Morocco – one thing each international locations deny.
Transparency campaigners, who’ve accused the EU parliament of resisting reform after the 2022 scandal, referred to as on it to instantly examine the most recent claims.
The EU Parliament has stated it’s absolutely cooperating with the Belgian authorities.
Huawei, in the meantime, stated it takes the allegations “severely” and would “urgently talk with the investigation to additional perceive the scenario”.
“Huawei has a zero tolerance coverage in the direction of corruption or different wrongdoing, and we’re dedicated to complying with all relevant legal guidelines and laws always,” the agency stated in a press release on March 14.
Belgian prosecutors stated the alleged corruption dated from 2021 to the current and took “numerous varieties”.
These included “remuneration for taking political positions or extreme presents corresponding to meals and journey bills or common invites to soccer matches” as a part of a bid to advertise “purely personal industrial pursuits” in political selections.
The alleged kickbacks have been hid as convention bills and paid to numerous intermediaries, the workplace stated, including it was taking a look at whether or not cash laundering had additionally been concerned.
On the coronary heart of the alleged corruption is a former parliamentary assistant who was employed as Huawei’s EU public affairs director, Belgian media stated.
Huawei has been within the EU’s crosshairs lately.
Brussels in 2023 described the telecoms large as a better threat to the bloc than different 5G suppliers and referred to as on EU states to exclude its gear from their cell networks.
Huawei has discovered itself on the centre of an intense tech rivalry between Beijing and Washington, with US officers warning its gear may very well be used to spy on behalf of Chinese language authorities – allegations they deny.
Since 2019, US sanctions have reduce Huawei off from international provide chains for expertise and US-made parts, a transfer that originally hammered its manufacturing of smartphones. AFP
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Publish date : 2025-03-14 09:17:00
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