The EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was taken into custody on Tuesday as police staged raids probing a suspected fraud scheme involving the training of European diplomats.
Mogherini, who was high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019, now leads the College of Europe graduate school whose premises were searched along with the offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS) diplomatic service.
The 52-year-old Italian was arrested in Brussels along with the training school’s deputy head, and Stefano Sannino, a senior EU official who was EEAS secretary general from 2021 to 2024, according to a source close to the matter.
The searches are part of an investigation into the alleged misuse of EU funds.
The probe was launched following suspicions that the College of Europe may have misused EU budget funds in 2021-2022, according to Euractiv’s sources.
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Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and one of the bloc’s most senior diplomats, Stefano Sannino, are in custody after Belgian police launched raids as part of a fraud probe on Tuesday, according to officials familiar with the case.
ReplyDeleteThe police detained three suspects and searched the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the College of Europe over alleged corruption in the establishment of a training academy for diplomats.
The searches — conducted at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and approved by the Belgian police — took place at the EEAS in Brussels, in buildings of the College of Europe in Bruges and at private homes, according to an EPPO statement.
The EEAS is the EU’s foreign policy wing and was until 2019 headed by the former European Commission Vice President Mogherini. She has been rector of the College of Europe, a training ground for future EU officials, since 2020.
Three former EU officials have been detained in connection with an alleged fraud scheme involving an EU-funded diplomatic training program, Belgian media reported on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteBelgian police detained former EEAS Secretary-General Stefano Sannino during a routine visit to Brussels, L’Echo reported. According to the newspaper, Sannino, former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and the deputy director of the College of Europe were among those taken into custody.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) confirmed searches at the headquarters of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the detention of three individuals.