Belgium stops several Lobistas de Huawei for bribing Eurodiputados

An investigation Anticorruption From the Belgian prosecutor’s office, he has culminated in the arrest of several Huawei employees and lobbyists, accused of to have bribed several Eurodiputados of the European Parliament.

These people would have carried out illegal activities of corruption since 2021 Until now, a period in which the detainees had made gifts, trips and invitations to different types of events to achieve favorable positions to the Chinese giant. Several terminals of Huawei itself and transfers of some thousands of euros that would not have been declared by parliamentarians would also have been given. This has also made investigations for money laundering.

15 are the MEPs that would have been bribed by a group of “lobists” led by Valerio Ottati, director of Public Affairs of Huawei in the EU for 6 years. “Interestingly,” this person had worked as a parliamentary assistant of several Italian deputies.

At the moment, it seems that no Eurodiput has been arrested, but in the operation more than 100 police have intervened, with records of 21 locations in different countries and after several months of investigation.

Recall that Huawei has been accused several times of espionage for the Chinese government. The most serious process against the company culminated with a veto from the United States of America that prohibited US companies, or those with US technology, selling their products. That was the beginning of the end for the outstanding position that Huawei had in the smartphones market, after being forced to lose all Google’s services of their terminals.

The reason for these bribes, therefore, was to try to reverse the current situation of the company, counteracting accusations and sanctions by EspionaJe to be able to expand their presence in the European market of networks and telecommunications.