Belgian prosecutors mistook MEP Daniel Attard for his namesake, the mayor of Għasri, when presenting evidence in an alleged bribery probe.
Last May, Belgian prosecutors asked the European Parliament to lift Attard’s parliamentary immunity so they could question him as part of a cash-for-influence probe.
Attard was one of four MEPs named in a probe into whether Chinese tech giants Huawei sought to buy influence among European legislators through gifts.
Attard’s name emerged after he attended a football match at the Anderlecht stadium in the presence of a Huawei lobbyist who was under investigation.
Two Daniel Attards confused
Part of the investigation hinged on an undisclosed series of payments that prosecutors said Attard had received from China and Hong Kong, which they put forward as evidence of potentially illicit transactions between the MEP and Chinese interlocutors.
However, it has since emerged that the transactions were actually directed to Għasri mayor Daniel Attard, not the MEP.
The blunder was first revealed by Politico on Thursday evening.
The Għasri mayor is a lawyer who, at the time, assisted clients in applying for Malta’s golden passport scheme. The payments are believed to be legitimate transactions linked to his professional work.
Belgian prosecutor admits error
According to Politico, prosecutors admitted the “error” in a letter addressed to JURI, the EP’s committee of legal affairs. In the letter, they acknowledged that Belgian financial investigators had mistakenly mixed up one Daniel Attard with the other.
This is not the first prosecutorial blunder to blight the investigation.
Last year, a request to lift the immunity of a fifth MEP, Giusy Princi, was withdrawn after it emerged she was not yet an MEP at the time of her alleged meeting with a Huawei lobbyist.
In June, the EP moved to tighten rules around the lifting of MEP’s immunity, with EP President Roberta Metsola saying MEPs were being unfairly targeted and their reputations tarnished.
Bid to lift immunity
At this stage it is unclear whether the EP committee tasked with hearing the case is likely to refuse the request for Attard’s parliamentary immunity to be withdrawn. It is also not known whether prosecutors intend to withdraw the request altogether.
Attard’s lawyers are believed to have written to Belgian authorities asking for him to be removed from the Huawei investigation and for the request for his immunity to be revoked.
In comments, Attard said he has reiterated his “complete innocence” from the start and offered his “full cooperation and transparency with competent authorities” from the outset.
“It now appears that part of the investigation may have stemmed from a mistaken identity,” he said.
Attard said that while cases of mistaken identity such as this “can unfortunately occur,” this case “underlines the importance of due process and of verifying facts carefully before reputations are put on the line”.
He expressed his hope that the matter “will now proceed without any further undue delay,” pledging to cooperate with authorities until the matter is concluded.
Article published on timesofmalta.com