Huawei at center of European Parliament bribery investigation

Although Huawei successfully introduced its wares into the heart of the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure, it faced an uphill struggle elsewhere in Europe, where authorities were concerned that it unfairly benefited from preferential financing by the Chinese government. Its effort to win European hearts and minds prompted Huawei to employ more lobbyists than Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple in the European Union.

Following Thursday’s raids, Belgian authorities declined to name any of those involved “in order to respect the presumption of innocence of the persons concerned and the investigation itself.” However, European media including investigative news site Follow The Money identified a lobbyist employed by Huawei who had previously worked for two Italian Members of the European Parliament as being at the center of the investigation. Follow The Money said 15 former and current MEPs are “on the radar” of the investigators.

Later Thursday, the investigating judge requested that two offices within the European Parliament building be sealed. The offices are allocated to two parliamentary assistants allegedly involved, the prosecution service said.