Anderlecht corporate box at centre of Huawei corruption probe bugged by Belgian police: reports

Belgian police bugged a corporate box used by Chinese tech giant Huawei at the Anderlecht football stadium reports revealed on Friday.

The corporate box is at the centre of a Belgian police investigation over the alleged bribery of European Parliament Members by the company.

Maltese Labour MEP Daniel Attard announced earlier this week he asked the European Parliament to lift his immunity after being notified that he is the subject of a bribery investigation by the Belgian authorities. He has refuted any wrong doing, and said he will cooperate with authorities.

On Friday, Politico reported Belgian authorities even listened into other conversations involving one of Huawei’s leading lobbyists, including in his car. According to the newspaper, the pieces of information retrieved from the conversations helped in piecing together the investigation.

Huawei acquired a private box in Anderlecht’s Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in southwest Brussels for the 2024/25 season, a year in which the club have played host to European giants including Fenerbahçe, Porto and Real Sociedad. The corporate box was rented for about €50,000, according to an RSC Anderlecht spokesperson.

Quoting a source close to the investigation, Politico reported that according to conversations recorded by the Belgian authorities, the reason for the company hiring the box was to make initial contact with politicians and to try to “grease” them up.

The lobbyist succeeded in bringing freshly elected MEPs to the box by first inviting their assistants. Invitations were then extended to lawmakers from a wide range of political groups, as well as former MEPs and other EU officials, two of the people close to the investigation said.

Another source said the methods used by the Belgian authorities in carrying out the surveillance are “quite common in such an investigation.”

Contacted, Anderlecht football club said they have no intention to renew the contract with Huawei after it concludes at the end of the season. They added “we have had no official request from Belgian authorities” to engage in surveillance of the box or collaborate in the investigation.

Malta link

According to Daniel Attard, the invitation to attend the match came through his Hungarian parliamentary assistant. “He asked whether I would like to join him and his son at what was meant to be a private and informal event to watch a Hungarian team play in Belgium,” the Labour MEP said.

It transpired that the tickets were for a corporate box and the invitation came from a person who is under investigation by the Belgian authorities. Attard did not name this individual in his statement but acknowledged that the person intended to speak to him about Huawei during the match.

Attard insisted he was unaware of this when accepting the invitation from his parliamentary assistant.

“I was not made aware that the invitation originated from any company, or that it involved a corporate box,” Attard said. “I had no prior knowledge of this, nor had I had any prior contact with that individual.”

Corruption charges

Belgium's public prosecutor last month charged eight people with corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation following an investigation into suspected bribery at the European Parliament.

The charges were filed after Belgian prosecutors had detained several individuals during raids conducted in Belgium and Portugal in March. The bribery allegedly occurred for the benefit of Huawei and a judge had also ordered the offices of two parliamentary assistants be sealed.

The alleged corruption had been going on since 2021 under the guise of commercial lobbying, according to the Belgian prosecutors. It involved payments for taking political stands, or excessive gifts such as food, travel expenses and regular invitations to football matches.

This is the first time that Attard's name has cropped up in the investigation. Sources in Brussels have told MaltaToday that requests by national authorities to waive parliamentary immunity are normally made when prosecutors have enough evidence in hand to warrant an individual's interrogation under caution or even prosecution.