MEPs have voted to lift immunity of veteran Italian conservative Fulvio Martuschiello, allowing Belgian prosecutors to continue their investigation into lobbying activities linked to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
With 344 votes “in favour“, 244 “against“ and 25 “abstentions“ The European Parliament has backed a request by Belgian authorities to lift the immunity of the Forza Italia and European People's Party (EPP) MEP.
The request to lift immunity does not imply guilt or establish wrongdoing.
Three others named in the investigation – EPP MEP Salvatore De Meo, liberal MEP Nikola Minchev and socialist MEP Daniel Attard – retained their parliamentary protection after their fellow MEPs voted on their cases, Euractiv reports.
All MEPs named in the investigation have denied wrongdoing. The vote comes more than a year after the investigation began and allows Belgian prosecutors to continue their case.