Politico: EU prosecutors launch investigation against Ursula von der Leyen over vaccine case
The criminal investigation by Belgian prosecutors against European Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen in the case of the purchase of coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer has been transferred to European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), TASS reports
Information about the transfer of the criminal case was reported by the European edition of the Politico newspaper, citing an anonymous representative from the Liege prosecutor’s office (Belgium).
According to him, investigators from EPPO have in recent months taken over from Belgian prosecutors investigating von der Leyen over her negotiations with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on the purchase of coronavirus vaccines. Legal documents indicate that law enforcement agencies are checking for evidence of ‘interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest’.
For the first time, EPPO began investigating a case directly against the European Commission Head, though no one has yet been charged.
According to Politico’s two sources, Hungary has also joined this case, filing a complaint in connection with the role of the EC Head in the vaccine talks. The newspaper indicated that Poland filed the same complaint in 2023, but withdrew it after the government of PM Donald Tusk came to power.
Since early 2021, the European Commission has concluded a series of contracts on behalf of the EU for the supply of more than 3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines until 2024 with six Western manufacturers. The first document was concluded with Pfizer. Ursula von der Leyen agreed on the parameters of this contract with the company’s management directly via SMS before the clinical trials of the vaccine were completed. Contrary to public requests, the European Commission did not make this correspondence public, stating that it was ‘accidentally lost’.
