BRUSSELS:
A brand new graft scandal rocked the European Parliament on Thursday after police carried out a number of raids in Belgium and Portugal, detaining a number of suspects as a part of a probe into corruption masqueraded as lobbying.
The brand new investigation comes greater than two years after the “Qatargate” scandal, wherein quite a few EU lawmakers have been accused of being paid to advertise the pursuits of Qatar and Morocco — one thing each nations have firmly denied.
None of these held for questioning on Thursday have been EU lawmakers, a police supply informed AFP.
Transparency campaigners, who’ve since accused EU lawmakers of resisting reform, known as on the parliament to right away examine the newest claims.
Belgian newspaper Le Soir and investigative web site Observe the Cash (FTM) mentioned the probe was linked to Chinese language tech big Huawei and its actions in Brussels since 2021. Huawei didn’t instantly reply to AFP’s request for remark.