Politico: Kovesi-led European prosecutors take over Belgian Pfizergate probe and look into messages between Ursula von der Leyen and pharma boss

European prosecutors from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) are investigating allegations related to the negotiations on anti-Covid vaccines between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the CEO of Pfizer, according to a spokesperson of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Liège, reports Politico.

European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) investigators have taken over in recent months from Belgian prosecutors who are investigating von der Leyen in relation to “interference in public functions, destruction of text messages, corruption and conflict of interest”, according to legal documents consulted by POLITICO and confirmed by a spokesperson for the Liège prosecutor’s office. While EPPO prosecutors are investigating alleged criminal offences, no one has yet been charged in connection with the case.

The investigation was initially opened by Belgian judicial authorities in the city of Liège in early 2023 following a criminal complaint filed by local lobbyist Frédéric Baldan. It was later joined by the Hungarian and Polish governments — although the latter is in the process of withdrawing its complaint after the election victory of a pro-EU government led by Donald Tusk, a government spokesman told POLITICO Polish.

Baldan’s complaint focused on an alleged exchange of text messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer boss Albert Bourla in the run-up to the EU’s biggest vaccine deal amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in an affair dubbed “Pfizergate” .

The New York Times, which first revealed that the message exchange took place while the two leaders were discussing the terms of the deal, launched a parallel lawsuit against the Commission after it refused to disclose the content of the messages following a request for access to documents .

The news that the EPPO is now investigating the case risks further questioning the European Commission president’s role in the European vaccine deal, which was estimated to be worth more than €20 billion. The EPPO conducts pan-European investigations into financial crimes and could theoretically seize phones and other relevant material from the Commission’s offices or from other countries in Europe, such as von der Leyen’s native Germany.

The development comes at a delicate time for Von Der Leyen, who has just launched her campaign for a second term as head of the European Commission.

So far, the Commission has refused to reveal the content of the text messages or even confirm their existence.

The deal, negotiated at the height of the pandemic in 2021, was initially seen as a triumph for von der Leyen. But the large amount of vaccines purchased has since raised questions, with POLITICO revealing late last year that there were at least €4 billion worth of wasted doses. Since then, the vaccination contract with Pfizer has been renegotiated.

Transparency campaigners and some political opponents have tried to pressure the Commission to discuss the case, but von der Leyen has so far avoided addressing the issue. In response to a direct question from POLITICO about the missing text messages, von der Leyen said: “Everything that is necessary in this regard has been said and changed. And we will wait for the results”.

In 2022, the EPPO announced it was looking into EU vaccine purchases more broadly, but this is the first time the office has been explicitly linked to Pfizergate.