According to the quoted source, the EPPO, where the chief prosecutor is Laura Codruța Kovesi, took over from the Belgian prosecutors the investigation investigating von der Leyen for “interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest”, according to according to legal documents seen by Politico and confirmed by a spokesman for the Liège prosecutor’s office.
European prosecutors are currently investigating alleged criminal offenses and no one has yet been charged in the case.
The “Pfizergate” 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 is based on an alleged exchange of messages between the head of the European Commission and the head of Pfizer, before the largest vaccination agreement in the EU was concluded in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, in a deal dubbed “Pfizergate”.
The deal was initially seen as a triumph for von der Leyen, who has just launched her campaign for a second term as head of the European Commission.
But the large amount of vaccines purchased has since raised questions. Politico reported at the end of 2023 that more than 200 million doses of vaccine worth at least €4 billion had been thrown away.
The news that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating the case risks further questioning the Commission President’s role in the vaccine deal, which was estimated to be worth more than €20 billion, Politico notes.
So far, the Commission has refused to reveal the content of the text messages or even confirm their existence.
DNA investigation in the vaccine procurement file
Romania is also in the situation of wasting vaccine doses, which ordered 80 million doses.
In the spring of 2022, when mass vaccination practically stopped, our country had used about half of the 33 million doses of vaccine received and was to receive another 50 million doses, previously ordered.
In the case of the purchase of vaccines, the former USR ministers of health Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă, Andrei Baciu, former secretary of state in the Ministry of Health and former prime minister Florin Cîțu are being prosecuted by the DNA.
Vlad Voiculescu is accused of abuse of office and complicity in abuse of office, Mihăilă and Baciu are accused of abuse of office, and Cîțu is accused of complicity in abuse of office, DNA announced in December 2023.
They are accused of purchasing between January and May 2021 a much larger number of vaccine doses than was necessary, i.e. 52.8 million extra doses, damaging the state budget by more than one billion euros, to which VAT is added .
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Tags: European Public Prosecutors Office Led Kovesi Investigates Negotiations Purchase AntiCovid Vaccines
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