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.
