BRUSSELS: The EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has been charged along with two others in a probe into “fraud and corruption” over contracts to train future European diplomats, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Mogherini, who was high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019 and now leads the College of Europe graduate school, was arrested on Tuesday following raids at the elite school and on the premises of the EU’s EEAS diplomatic service.
The 52-year-old Italian was detained for questioning along with the school’s deputy rector as well as Stefano Sannino, a senior EU official who was secretary general of the European External Action Service from 2021 to 2024.
After being questioned by Belgian police, “the three individuals were formally notified of the accusations against them,” said the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) which is overseeing the probe.
“The accusations concern procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy,” it added in a statement.
Not considered a flight risk, all three were released from custody overnight, a spokesperson for the prosecutors’ office said.
The EPPO is investigating suspicions of fraud related to an EU-funded training scheme for junior diplomats, known as the European Union Diplomatic Academy.
The program was awarded by the EEAS to the College of Europe in Belgium in the period 2021-2022, and the probe focuses on whether the tender process was skewed to favor the school.
Mogherini has headed the College of Europe since 2020, and in 2022 also took the helm of the EU Diplomatic Academy.
The contract involved was worth some €650,000 ($750,000), according to a European source.
Carried out by Belgian federal police at the EPPO’s request, Tuesday’s searches targeted the College of Europe campus in the Belgian city of Bruges, the Brussels premises of the EEAS and the houses of suspects.
The European Commission has confirmed raids at the EEAS, saying the probe focused on “activities that took place before in the previous mandate.”
The current EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, took over the post a year ago from Mogherini’s successor, Josep Borrell.
The College of Europe has vowed to “fully cooperate” with the probe, stressing its commitment “to the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and compliance — both in academic and administrative matters.”
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the EU, responsible for investigating crimes against the bloc’s financial interests.
The probe, which is being led by a judge in Western Belgium, is also supported by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), to which the accusations were first reported.
EU ex-top diplomat charged in ‘fraud and corruption’ probe
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EU ex-top diplomat charged in ‘fraud and corruption’ probe
- EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was arrested on Tuesday following raids at the elite College of Europe graduate school
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
- American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
