Belgian police attacked several sites in the country as part of an investigation into corruption within the European Parliament.
The prosecutors said that alleged corruption was “under the guise of commercial lobbying” and that several people had been detained for interrogation.
According to officials, an address in Portugal was also excavated by the local police, while in France, a person was arrested.
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir said that the investigation was linked to the Chinese giant of Huawei technology and its activities in Brussels since 2021. Huawei said that he had taken the allegations “seriously” and would communicate “urgently with the investigation”.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office said: “Corruption would have been practiced regularly and very discreet from 2021 to the present day, under the guise of commercial lobbying and to take various forms, such as compensation for political positions or excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses, or regular invitations to football matches.”
In a declaration to the BBC, a spokesperson for Huawei said that he had “zero tolerance policy towards corruption or other reprehensible acts, and we are committed to complying with all the laws and regulations applicable at any time”.
The evening indicated that several people suspected of being lobbyists working for Huawei had been detained, about the alleged corruption of current or former members of the European Parliament (MEP) to promote the business policy of the company.
Belgian police sealed two offices within the European Parliament at the request of the judge in charge of the case.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told the BBC that no MEP had been directly targeted by Thursday’s raids.
A total of 21 raids were carried out in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, the prosecutor’s office told the newspaper.
The investigation focuses on “active corruption within the European Parliament” as well as “counterfeiting and the use of forged documents”, all within the framework of a “criminal organization”, said the prosecutor’s office, adding that he was also trying to discover a possible money laundering.
Additional reports by Bruno Boelpaep
