Scandal rocks EU parly

ARRESTS: NEW CASH-FOR-INFLUENCE INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED

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European Union (EU) lawmakers converge on the bloc's parliament yesterday, rocked by a new cash-for-influence probe in their midst - and at loggerheads over efforts to bolster ethical safeguards at the heart of Europe.

The plenary session in Strasbourg, France, comes just weeks after offices were sealed and five people charged over suspicions that members of parliament were bribed to sway sensitive EU policies in favour of Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Daniel Freund, a transparency campaigner-turned-lawmaker for Europe's Greens, said his first thought on hearing of the arrests was "Oh, not again!"

The European parliament has been tarnished by a drip-drip of scandals over the years, with lawmakers still smarting from the biggest in decades, the 2022 "Qatargate" case, which is winding through the Belgian courts.