Pfizergate, von der Leyen under investigation for the 20 billion vaccine deal

Pfizergate, the investigation that embarrasses the EU two months after the vote

There European Prosecutor's Office has decided to open a file relating to the sale of anti-Covid vaccines by the EU. In particular they would have ended up in the crosshairs i direct contacts between the president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourlaan interlocution from which it would later be born the 20 billion agreement on vaccines to fight the Coronavirus. Two months after the European elections, the spotlight is back on Pfizergate, which has at its center – reports Il Corriere della Sera – the messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Bourla. An agreement that made the serum Pfizer-BioNTech the most distributed in the Union, after that AstraZeneca had failed to meet its delivery commitments by declaring production problems.

There Eppo European Prosecutor's Officewhich pursues i crimes that harm the financial interests of the EUhe announced in October 2022 an investigation on the supplies of anti-Covid vaccines by the EU and now, according to the Politico website, it has taken the place of the Belgian prosecutor's office in the investigations into von der Leyen for presumed “interference in public functions, destruction of text messages, corruption and conflict of interest”. The Commission, consulted by Corriere, did not comment. Politico explains that the Eppo “is investigating allegations criminal offences“but”no one has yet been charged in connection with the case“.