Huawei, hospitality, and the price of political favour

Prime Minister Robert Abela declared that Labour MEP Daniel Attard was “not involved in any investigation on corruption”. Just one day earlier, Politico had reported that Attard said publicly that he was “being investigated”. Now, who would you believe?

Attard, predictably, has once again embarrassed himself and the entire country. The Belgian authorities have requested the European Parliament to lift his parliamentary immunity so he can be interrogated as part of an investigation into a cash-for-influence scandal linked to Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei.

Yet Robert Abela protested that “there is absolutely no allegation of any form of corruption with regard to Attard”.  So why are the Belgian police asking the European Parliament to strip him of his parliamentary immunity?  Just for the fun of it?

According to Abela, the Belgian police have gone to such lengths simply because Attard happened to be “mentioned in an investigation being conducted on other persons, not on him”.

A request to lift a European lawmaker’s immunity is a measure of last resort. Such a drastic step is only taken when absolutely necessary.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that Attard has committed any wrongdoing, but it certainly indicates the Belgian police have sufficient suspicion that he was up to no good.

The only reason they want his immunity lifted is to be able to summon him for questioning and to investigate him.  If he were just a bystander, an unlucky witness to a potential crime, the police wouldn’t need to request his immunity stripped.

So what was he really up to? Well, if you believe Robert Abela, “there was this episode where he (Attard) went to watch a (football) game in a box rented out to Huawei”. The truth is that it wasn’t just any football match that Attard attended.  He went to an Europa League match between Anderlecht and Ferencvaros in an exclusive corporate box at the Anderlecht stadium belonging to Huawei.

There, Attard met a Huawei lobbyist. He was compelled to admit not only meeting the lobbyist but also discussing Huawei. Of course, he tried to minimise his massive “error of judgement”, claiming “the topic of Huawei was briefly raised.” So briefly, Attard set up a follow-up meeting with the same lobbyist some days later. That lobbyist was being investigated by Belgian authorities.

Attard claimed that his meeting with the lobbyist was “in line with the rules of the European Parliament”.  Those rules certainly don’t allow MEPs to sell their availability to lobbyists in exchange for gifts they’ve received. You don’t offer a meeting with a lobbyist after accepting his generous hospitality, especially if that lobbyist is under investigation by the Belgian authorities for bribing as many as 15 current or former MEPs.

Belgian media reported that investigators believe “lobbyists offered MEPs gifts” in return for favourable political positions.  And guess what those gifts were? That’s right – VIP tickets in Huawei’s private box at Lotto Park, the Anderlecht football stadium.

“Following that meeting, I had no further communication and took no action whatsoever in relation to Huawei on any matters relating to the company,” Attard declared.  He claimed the ticket cost was less than €150, the threshold for declaring the gift.

The average ticket price for the Anderlecht-Ferencvaros match was €111.74.  But Attard wasn’t sitting in a standard seat in that stadium.  He was in an exclusive corporate box, and his ticket was a VIP ticket.  The cost of hospitality packages for that match was quoted between €1,290 and €1,490.

Nobody will believe Attard that a VIP ticket for an Anderlecht Europa League game in an exclusive box costs less than €150, except Robert Abela.

“We are talking about an episode which is not only de minimis, in my view, but ultra de minimis, which means of very little importance,” the prime minister said.  Instead of giving Attard a right tongue-lashing, Abela praised him for his “maturity”.  Why? Because Attard was “ready to speak with and collaborate with the Belgian authorities or EPPO (the European public prosecutor’s office) to give his version of events”. In reality, Attard has no choice.

The man has got himself into a right pickle and dragged our country’s name down with him.  But that’s “ultra de minimis” for Abela.

The Prime Minister defended Attard: “He was never involved in taking decisions that involve Huawei, which means that he certainly could never have been involved in favouring this company”.  Well, he’s certainly given the Huawei lobbyist his time and availability by meeting him.

If Attard was truly so shocked that he was put in this embarrassing situation by his “Hungarian parliamentary aide”, as he claims, the minute the Huawei lobbyist approached him in the Huawei corporate box, Attard would have simply walked out of the stadium and refused to engage.  Instead, he allowed the lobbyist being investigated the time for “the topic of Huawei” to be “briefly raised”. And then gave him an appointment for a follow-up meeting.

“It would be better if those who came out screaming yesterday took a good look at themselves,” Robert Abela said.  Is he referring to the Belgian police?

The irony is that Daniel Attard recently reported European Parliament president Roberta Metsola to the EU Ombudsman, Emma O’Reilly, for a “conflict of interest”.

Attard demanded that O’Reilly “take action against Metsola” simply because her husband works as a lobbyist for the cruiseliner industry.

The MEP is a total joke – if he’s so hot on “conflict of interest”, why did he accept to meet a Huawei lobbyist who had just lavished him with his generous hospitality?

The only surprising thing is not that Attard has embarrassed the country in Europe, it’s that it’s taken him this long.

We knew what to expect.  After publishing a post promising to “work harder than ever before so that whoever is cruel will never return to Castille,” Attard was forced to admit that “it was a very impulsive post”.

When pressed to reveal who these “cruel” individuals were, he replied, “These people are already known… I’ve never been one to hold back.” When the Belgian police requested his parliamentary immunity be lifted, perhaps it was time for him to start holding back.