The European Parliament has suspended access to its facilities to representatives of the Huawei company, has assured a spokeswoman for that institution, a day after knowing reports of corruption for the benefit of the firm.
«Parliament decided, as a precautionary measure, suspend access to Parliament of representatives linked to the Huawei company, with immediate effect, ”said the source.
On Thursday, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor announced that records were made in Belgium and Portugal as part of an investigation by alleged bribes that involve representatives of the telecommunications giant.
“Several people were arrested to be interrogated in relation to their alleged participation in active corruption in the European Parliament,” said the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, to add that a person was arrested in France.
The European Parliament Transparency Registry indicates that the company has registered Nine people with free access To all the facilities of the European Parliament. The offices of two parliamentary assistants at the headquarters of the European Legislative were sealed by judicial agents.
This Thursday, a Huawei spokesman assured AFP that the firm maintains a policy of “zero tolerance” with corruption, and that The company was waiting for contacts with those responsible for the investigation “to better understand the situation.”
According to the Belgian Prosecutor’s Office, the facts of corruption took place regularly “And very discreetly from 2021 to the present, under the appearance of commercial lobbying.”
These improper contacts took “various forms, such as remuneration to adopt political positions or excessive gifts, such as (…) regular invitations to football matches.”
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir said Thursday that Huawei has an exclusive box at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, on the periphery of Brussels, known as Lotto Park, where the RSC Anderlecht plays at home.
All these facts had “the purpose of promoting purely private commercial interests,” said the Prosecutor’s Office.
In the records made on Thursday, the agents «Several documents and objects seizedwhich will now be carefully analyzed ».
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