Manfred Weber and Colleagues Embroiled in Fraud and Corruption Probe

The European Union’s top prosecutors are looking into accusations of fraud and corruption, including the misuse of EU funds related to the 2019 European Parliament election campaign of Manfred Weber, the leader of European People’s Party.

Manfred Weber (Photo: AFP)

The investigation is being led by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which is tasked with investigating the criminal misuse of EU funds, two Belgian police officers and a spokesman for the Belgian prosecutor's office told Politico.

Belgian police are investigating three individuals, including two high-ranking ones, connected to Weber's 2019 campaign, according to people involved with the campaign questioned by police about their fellow campaigners' roles and actions. This information is also supported by documents obtained by Politico. 

The inquiry is focused on whether the three individuals improperly received payments from both the EPP party and the EPP group, the party’s representation in the European Parliament. Money for parliamentary groups, which is taxpayer funded, must not be spent on political campaigns.

EPPO is working with the Belgian police. A Belgian police document seen by Politico

calls witnesses to discuss criminal allegations including "forgery of a public document," "forgery of public documents by a civil servant in the performance of duties," "breach of trust," "fraud," and "public corruption." 

The EPP group - of which Peter Magyar's Tisza Party is a member - denied knowledge of the investigation. "We have not been approached by the EPPO, or by the Belgian authorities, or indeed by any other law enforcement agency, about any possible investigation of any kind," said a statement from the EPP group. "The EPP Group imposes rigorous standards in the implementation of its budget and voluntarily subjects itself to scrutiny to ensure compliance," the statement added.

In recent weeks, police officers from the Belgian anti-corruption office interviewed witnesses who worked on Weber’s 2019 European election campaign. 

They asked about three named individuals who "may have been compensated by the EPP group while potentially providing services for the European People’s Party related to the 2019 campaign," police said according to the document.

Officially, the two high-ranking Weber aides named in the document left their Parliament-paid jobs for the first half of 2019 to take on roles at the party. The third named individual worked only for the party both before Weber’s campaign started and after it ended.

One of the named people, speaking on behalf of all three, said they were "not aware of any investigation" and denied that the three received any compensation from the EPP group during the campaign.

Weber himself has been open that he draws a double salary for his dual roles, a point of controversy even within his political family. In addition to the approximately €8,000 net he earns a month as an MEP, he also makes €14,120 as EPP president, according to his most recent financial disclosure (and that doesn’t include the thousands in monthly allowances).

In a recent article, the conservative Spanish newspaper La Gaceta reported that 

the Belgian prosecutor's office is investigating Ouarda Bensouag, Manfred Weber's French chief of staff until now and the general secretary of the political family and its EP group as of November 1. She is under investigation for taking money from the EPP and the European Parliament simultaneously, which is forbidden by EU regulations. No further details are available at this stage.

Last year, the Belgian and German police raided the Brussels headquarters of the EPP as part of an investigation into suspected bribery in business dealings during the 2019 elections. The investigation was launched by the German anti-corruption authority, but was described by the EPP as "unfounded". There is no evidence that the EPPO investigation is linked to this.

Cover photo: Manfred Weber (Photo: AFP)