Daniel Attard silent on whether assistant faces action over Huawei match invite
'I'm not going to act as an investigator, prosecutor, and judge,' Labour MEP says.
Labour MEP Daniel Attard on Wednesday would not say whether he has taken action against an assistant who invited him to a football match where he met a Huawei lobbyist.
Attard and other MEPs have found themselves caught in the middle of a Belgian bribery investigation centred around a leading Huawei lobbyist.
Speaking to journalists, Attard was asked about this assistant and whether or not he has chosen to take action against him. But Attard refused to give any more comments.
“I’m definitely not going to act as an investigator, prosecutor, and judge. That is not my job. My job is to give a clear account of the facts to the concerned authorities, and I am ready to do this immediately. In fact, I have already asked to give my account [to the investigators] as soon as possible,” Attard said.
Attard last week vowed to clear his name and asked European Parliament president Roberta Metsola to lift his immunity.
“I am confident that when this process ends, my innocence will be clearly proven,” Attard said.
He explained that meeting associations, authorities, and companies was part of an MEP's job.
At the time, Huawei was listed on the European Union’s transparency register, which keeps tabs on lobbying activities, he pointed out.
The investigation into Attard was triggered after the MEP attended an Anderlecht football match at Huawei’s company box at the club stadium.
Attard claims he was invited to the match by his Hungarian parliamentary assistant and was unaware that the invitation originated from Chinese tech giants, Huawei.
Last week, a Politico report revealed that Belgian police had obtained secret recordings of conversations that took place at the box of the football stadium. Attard welcomed this as “good news”.