Federica Mogherini detained in Belgium

(ANSA) – ROME, DEC 2 – Federica Mogherini, the former European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is among three people to have been detained in Belgium in relation to a corruption probe, European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) sources said on Tuesday, confirming a report by Le Soir.
Former Italian foreign minister Mogherini served as the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs between 2014 and 2019.She was Italian foreign minister from February to October 2014.She is currently the Rector of the College of Europe.
The probe is linked to searches of the offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels and the College of Europe in Bruges that took place early on Tuesday.
The EPPO said the probe regards the project for the European Union Diplomatic Academy – a nine-month training program for junior diplomats across Member States –, which was awarded by the European External Action Service to the College of Europe in Belgium, in the 2021–2022 period following a tender procedure.It said there are strong suspicions that, during the tendering process for the programme, confidential information related to the procurement was shared with one of the candidates participating in the tender.
The source said another of the three people detained was also Italian – Stefano Sannino, the former EEAS Secretary General and former Italian ambassador to Spain who is currently the European Commission's Director-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf.
The third person arrested, according to reports, is Italian-Belgian Cesare Zegretti, co-director of the college's Executive Education, Training and Projects Office since January 2022.
All three are being questioned.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the case highlighted European hypocrisy.She was quoted by TASS as saying the EU preaches to others while ignoring its own corruption problems, saying millions of euros of EU money have been flowing through the "channels of corruption" to Kyiv for years.
Hungary, which has had several run-ins with the EU over respect of the rule of law, was critical too.
"Another day, another “shock” EU scandal," Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said via X."Belgian police raiding the EEAS and the College of Europe at dawn? Documents seized, arrests made, corruption and procurement fraud on the table."The EU’s prestigious “finishing school” for Eurocrats now under investigation for insider access to tenders? You can’t make this up."Funny how Brussels lectures everyone on “rule of law” while its own institutions look more like a crime series than a functioning union".(ANSA).
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