Three Huawei employees and a managing director from Brussels conference organizer Forum Europe were represented in court.

By Elisa Braun, Antoaneta Roussi and Mathieu Pollet

BRUSSELS — Three Huawei employees and a managing director from Brussels conference organizer Forum Europe were represented in court this week for hearings related to the corruption investigation into the Chinese tech giant’s lobbying in Europe.

Police raided more than 20 locations in Belgium and Portugal last month within an investigation into alleged illegal payments made by Huawei to secure an open letter signed by eight European lawmakers in support of the company’s interests, according to the Belgian prosecutor and an arrest warrant seen by POLITICO. Five people were charged as part of the investigation, prosecutors said on March 18.

In the first session, the parties met for a 15 minutes behind closed doors at Brussels’ Chamber of Accusation, an appeals court where defense teams discuss ongoing investigations with senior Belgian judges regarding procedural decisions such as whether individuals should be released from custody. A second session, on Wednesday, lasted for more than two hours.

According to a court timetable available on site at the Brussels Palace of Justice, the suspects include a lobbyist from Huawei as well as a senior executive and a procurement manager of the Chinese tech firm. The higher profile Huawei employees can be named as Han W. and Valerio O.

All are suspected of corruption, participation in a criminal organization and money laundering. They are presumed innocent.

Two other defendants are contractors, including one from Forum Europe who is charged with “active corruption of a person holding a public office in an organization governed by public international law,” according to the timetable.

Forum Europe said in an email: “We do not have any comment at this time.”

The arrest warrant, which POLITICO reported on last week, included details from Belgian prosecutors alleging the key suspects may have facilitated the payments for the pro-Huawei letter. “A sum of €15,000 was offered to the writer of the 5G letter, while each co-signatory was offered €1,500,” read the warrant, signed by the investigative judge.

“This transaction or proposed transaction is said to have been endorsed by HUAWEI’s Chinese executives, in particular by …. [the] director of the Brussels office,” it also said.

The warrant also described how the former adviser allegedly arranged for the payments via invoices that investigators suspect might be for “alleged consultancy services and campaign expenses, in the amounts of  €18,450 and €27,500.”

Huawei said in an earlier statement that it “takes these allegations seriously” and “has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption or other wrongdoing.”

The Chinese Embassy in Belgium told POLITICO in a statement that “the Chinese side is in communication with relevant authorities of the Belgian government” and that the “Chinese government always requires Chinese companies [to] strictly observe laws and regulations of the host countries.”

Two other people — one former and one current parliamentary assistant to conservative Italian lawmaker Fulvio Martusciello — were arrested in France and Italy as part of the probe, bringing the total number of suspects to at least seven. They both denied any involvement and accepted being extradited.

Source: Politico.eu