Reuters
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The European Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday that former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and two others have been formally charged with procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and breach of professional secrets.
The three were detained on Tuesday as part of the EU’s corruption investigation and have now been released pending ongoing investigations, the EPPO said, adding that they were not a flight risk.
The EPPO named the other two suspects as a senior official at the European University in Bruges and a senior official at the European Commission. One of the detainees was Stefano Sannino, a senior EU diplomat, three sources told Reuters.
Mr. Mogherini and Mr. Sannino could not be reached for comment.
The EPPO also stated that “all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent Belgian court of law.”
Their arrests followed raids on the EU’s diplomatic offices in Brussels, the University of Europe, an elite university in Bruges that educates many EU officials, and the suspects’ homes.
Mr. Mogherini served as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Director of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019. She became president of European University in 2020.
The investigation concerns “alleged fraud related to the EU-funded training of young diplomats,” the EPPO said.
Mr. Mogherini and Mr. Sannino, both Italian nationals, are well known in diplomatic circles in Brussels, and news of their detention shocked EU society.
