Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini faces corruption accusations in fraud probe

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — The European Union’s former foreign policy chief faces corruption accusations alongside two other people arrested this week as part of a fraud investigation, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday.

Authorities in Belgium made the arrests on Tuesday after raiding the offices of the EU diplomatic service in Brussels, and a college in Bruges. Federica Mogherini led the EU foreign service from 2014 to 2019, and now serves as the rector of the College of Europe, a prestigious institute of European studies.

The EPPO said in a statement that Mogherini and a senior staff member of the College of Europe were detained at its request, as well as a senior official from the European Commission.

“After being questioned by the Belgian Federal Judicial Police, the three individuals were formally notified of the accusations against them,” the EPPO said. “The accusations concern procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy. They were released, as they are not considered a flight risk.”

The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the EU’s equivalent of a foreign office. As the bloc’s top diplomat, Mogherini was responsible for supervising the Iran nuclear talks, leading efforts to improve long-strained relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and a host of other foreign policy and security issues.

Police searched the properties of the suspects, several buildings of the College of Europe and the EEAS headquarters that sits at the center of the 27-nation bloc’s institutions in Brussels, the EPPO said.

No outside actor, or country, has been named so far in the investigation.

The EPPO, an independent public organization of the EU, said it had “strong suspicions” of fraud in awarding a tender for running a 2021-22 training program at the EU Diplomatic Academy for junior diplomats. Former Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell ran the EEAS.

Other corruption scandals

The corruption case targeting Mogherini is the latest to hit European institutions.

Revelations of an alleged cash-for-influence scheme dubbed Qatargate, involving high-profile center-left EU lawmakers, assistants, lobbyists and their relatives, emerged in 2022. Qatari and Moroccan officials are alleged to have paid bribes to influence decision-making. Both countries deny involvement. No one has been convicted or is in pretrial detention, and prospects for a trial are unclear.

In March this year, several people were arrested in a probe linked to the Chinese company Huawei, which is suspected of bribing EU lawmakers.

Last year, the aide of prominent far-right EU lawmaker Maximilian Krah was arrested in a separate case. German prosecutors alleged the aide was a Chinese agent. Krah, who has since switched to the federal legislature of his native Germany, denied knowledge of the suspicions against his former employee.