Former EU’s high diplomat Federica Mogherini and senior Commission official Stefano Sannino have been launched late on Tuesday after being named suspects in a fraud probe rocking Brussels, in response to a press release from the European prosecutors.
The pair had been detained earlier within the day after a sequence of raids by Belgian police on the EU’s diplomatic service in Brussels, the College of Europe in Bruges and personal residences, as first reported by Euractiv.
The prosecutors suspect the 2 colluded in 2021 and 2022 to steer a public contract for a brand new EU diplomatic academy to the College of Europe, the place Mogherini is rector and leads the mission.
The academy is funded by the EU’s diplomatic arm, the EEAS, which Mogherini used to run between 2014 and 2019, and the place Sannino held a senior publish when the choice on the place to base the academy was made. Another senior workers member from the College of Europe was additionally arrested.
“After being questioned by the Belgian Federal Judicial Police … the three people have been formally notified of the accusations towards them,” reads a assertion from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). Accusations embrace “procurement fraud and corruption, battle of curiosity and violation {of professional} secrecy.”
Under Belgian legal guidelines, being named a suspect means the investigation is ongoing, and the people could also be questioned additional, however it doesn’t suggest guilt. The EPPO mentioned the suspects have been launched as a result of they have been “not thought-about a flight threat.” They stay presumed harmless whereas the probe continues.
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