EU prosecutors take up Von der Leyen corruption probe

This is too late; damage has already been done that can't be recovered. A corrupt institution cannot investigate its equally corrupt employee.

EU prosecutors take up Von der Leyen corruption probe – Politico
Investigators are reportedly looking into private text messages between the European Commission president and the CEO of Pfizer
1 Apr, 2024

The EU’s top prosecutors have taken over an ongoing corruption investigation into European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Politico reported on Monday citing an unnamed spokesperson for the Liege Prosecutor’s Office in Belgium.

The probe relates to the purchase of nearly two billion Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses for the EU at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The prosecution claims the EC chief negotiated the multi-billion-euro deal with the pharmaceutical giant’s CEO, Alber Bourla, in private via text messages before clinical trials for the vaccine were completed.

Von der Leyen has refused to disclose the content of those messages, claiming she cannot find them.

Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), who have been working on the case for the past few months, reportedly believe that Von der Leyen may be guilty of “interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest,” according to legal documents seen by Politico.

Despite the allegations and von der Leyen herself admitting that she privately communicated with Bourla for nearly a month before signing the nearly €20 billion ($21.5 billion) deal, no formal charges have yet been brought against the EC chief.

The case has been supported by the governments of Poland and Hungary, which have also filed official complaints about Von der Leyen’s role in the vaccine negotiations, Politico’s sources said. The outlet noted, however, that Warsaw moved to withdraw the complaint after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government came to power last year.

The New York Times, which first reported in 2021 that private conversations between Von der Leyen and Bourla had indeed taken place prior to the signing of the vaccine deal, has also filed a lawsuit against the EC for refusing to disclose the content of the text messages and turning down a request for access to documents.

The case against the EC chief has garnered “extremely high public interest,” according to EU officials, amid concerns that the bloc purchased significantly more Covid shots than were necessary.

In December last year, Politico reported that EU states had dumped at least 215 million doses, which had cost taxpayers as much as €4 billion ($4.3 billion). Despite this, the vaccines will continue flowing to the EU under the contract with Pfizer, at least until 2027.

Nazi Roots of EU's Führer Ursula von der Leyen

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has some disturbing skeletons in her family wardrobe.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and her skeletons in the family closet.

* Her political roots in Nazi Germany explain the insane military plans of the European Union under her leadership against Russia, and her total submission to the U.S. imperialist goal of defeating Moscow.

* Author Evan Reif explains how her politician father, Ernst Albrecht, recruited irreconcilable Nazis and former Wehrmacht officers into his regional government when he was governor of Lower Saxony in the 1980s.

* Ursula von der Leyen's family gained much of its industrial wealth through close cooperation with Hitler's Third Reich. Her aristocratic family had matrimonial ties to slave cotton planters in the American South.

* This hereditary wealth contributed not only to Ursula's elite education, but also to her meteoric rise in German politics. She became Germany's defense minister from 2013-2019, despite having no formal military education. Under her leadership there was a massive rearmament of the German army, and she also became mired in corruption scandals.

* In late 2019, she was appointed president of the European Commission, the highest political post in the European Union. This was done without a vote in the German parliament because there was no certainty about her eligibility.

* She led the US-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia with remarkably hawkish anti-Russian rhetoric. Her zeal to continue her hostility toward Russia is consistent with the Nazi ideology her father indulged in.

* Ursula von der Leyen has demonstrated an uncanny "ability" to "fail upwards," as Evan Reif wryly notes. The only explanation for this unjustified political rise, despite her incompetence, plagiarism and corruption, is the help of a powerful network - the transatlantic NATO alliance led by the US and its intelligence services.

* The disturbing outcome is that Europe is being dragged into a disastrous war against Russia in the service of U.S.-European imperialism - euphemistically called "Western values" - by a man who is the offspring of Nazi heritage and politics and has no democratic mandate.

* Eight decades after the end of World War II and the defeat of Hitler's Third Reich, the imperialist goal of conquering Russia is alive again. However, should we be surprised, looking at the odious political past of the chairman of the European Commission?

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDy64GGA9Cc