The former head of the European Union’s diplomacy, who has been charged in the context of a corruption investigation related to the awarding of a contract by the EU to the College of Europe, which Mogherini heads, gave explanations “with complete transparency” to the investigators, her lawyer assured the AFP today.
“The interrogation went very well, it lasted too long, but with complete transparency and calm,” said lawyer Mariapaola Kerki.
Mogherini, who , was questioned on Tuesday for ten hours by Belgian federal police in Bruges, the city where the College of Europe is located, before being released. The investigation continues.
How did Federica Mogherini become a suspect?
The Italian, a former minister, has been for five years the director of the College of Europe, which trains a large number of European civil servants. Investigators want to establish whether in 2021-2022 the educational institution in question found itself in an advantageous position in a tender for an EEAS contract to train future EU diplomats.
According to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation concerns suspicions of “fraud and corruption in the context of tenders for public contracts, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy”.
In addition to Mogherini, charges have also been brought against two people. They are Cesare Zegretti, co-director of the College of Europe in charge of training and programmes, and Stefanos Sanino, a high-ranking official of the European Commission, who announced yesterday, Wednesday, that he is resigning from his duties.
On her part, . He added that he has “full confidence” that justice will recognize it. According to her lawyer, the lifting of Mogherini’s detention on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday was not accompanied by a measure to restrict her movements.
Police told the three suspects of the charges in the presence of an investigator, and they were then released because the investigator determined there was no “risk of flight,” according to the European public prosecutor’s office.
