European Parliament assistants' offices probed in alleged Huawei bribery case

The offices of two parliamentary assistants from the European People’s Party and Renew Europe have been sealed by Belgian judicial authorities amid investigations on alledged bribes from Chinese tech company Huawei to influence EU decision-making. 

One belongs to the assistants of Marco Falcone (Italy/EPP), Paolo Campisi and Francesco Vasta. The other is the office of Adam Mouchtar, assistant to Nikola Minchev (Bulgaria/Renew Europe). 

Belgian authorities have accessed the offices of Falcone's assistants around 17:00 CET, for over an hour. As parliamentary assistants do not benefit from immunity, the European Parliament is not required to notify them before accessing their offices. 

The Parliament’s press service told Euronews that they have received a request for cooperation from the Belgian authorities to assist the investigation. 

Following reports of an investigation into the Chinese tech giant on Thursday, Belgian police also searched the company’s Brussels headquarters and other locations, making several arrests, according to prosecutors. 

As part of the operation, police searched 21 homes in Brussels, the Belgian regions of Flanders and Wallonia, and Portugal. They sought evidence of potential crimes, including bribery, forgery, money laundering, and involvement in a criminal organisation.