Brussels, March 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The European Commission would not comment on Thursday on the case of alleged corruption in the European Parliament involving lobbyists from China's Huawei, which will have ramifications in Portugal, but pointed to the restriction applied to the company in fifth generation (5G) networks.
"We have strictly no comment to make on this investigation. Let me remind you, however, that the security of our 5G networks is obviously crucial for our economy and that is why, in our 2023 communication, the Commission assessed that Huawei poses materially higher risks than other suppliers," said the institution's spokesman for technological sovereignty, Thomas Regnier.
Speaking at the EU executive's daily press conference, Thomas Regnier added: "This is why the Commission considers that member states can adopt decisions restricting or excluding Huawei from their 5G networks."
"This would be in line with our toolbox for 5G. We now urge all member states to take action because failure to act quickly would expose the EU as a whole to a clear risk," he warned.
This as Belgian police carried out around 20 searches on Thursday as part of an investigation into corruption in the European Parliament (EP) involving lobbyists from China's Huawei, which will have ramifications in Portugal, reports Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
Police carried out around 20 searches in Belgium as part of an investigation into corruption in the EP "under the guise of commercial lobbies", and several people were detained, announced the Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which also mentioned a search in Portugal.
Contacted by Lusa, the Portuguese judicial police (the country's main criminal investigation agency) confirmed that they were co-operating with the Belgian authorities, but gave no further details.
According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the investigation is targeting the practices in Brussels, since 2021, of lobbyists linked to the Chinese telecoms group Huawei.
The investigation suspects that there were transfers made "to one or more MEPs through a Portuguese company" which was also the target of searches today, adds the newspaper, without giving any details.
A source from the EP told Lusa that it has, whenever requested, co-operated fully with the authorities.
"The financial advantages linked to the alleged corruption were possibly mixed with financial flows linked to the payment of conference expenses and paid to various intermediaries, with the aim of concealing their illicit nature or allowing the perpetrators to escape the consequences of their actions," says the federal prosecutor, quoted by the French-language Belgian daily.
According to the prosecutor, the investigation also seeks to identify possible elements of money laundering.
No MEPs have yet been identified in this operation, according to Le Soir and its investigative journalism partners - the weekly Knack, the Dutch investigative platform Follow The Money and the Greek investigative journalists Reporters United.
The alleged corruption in this case involved gifts (including Huawei smartphones), tickets to football matches (Huawei has a private box at Lotto Park, RSC Anderlecht's stadium) or transfers of a few thousand Euros.
According to the MEPs' code of conduct, any object offered by a third party with a value of more than €150 must be declared and entered publicly in the register of gifts.
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