The chief of the European People’s Party’s 2019 EU election campaign, Dara Murphy, will have a hearing with German authorities in Brussels on Tuesday (25 April) as part of an ongoing inquiry into alleged corruption, a well-informed source in Berlin told EURACTIV.
In total, German officials will interrogate eight people – both current and former staff members of the EPP, Europe’s oldest and biggest political party – in collaboration with the Belgian authorities.
The case was made public after the German and Belgian police raided the EPP headquarters earlier this month.
In the spotlight is Christian Democrat (CDU) lawmaker Mario Voigt, the digital campaign manager for EPP leader Manfred Weber during the 2019 EU election campaign. Weber is currently the president of the EPP and also the leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament.
According to German media reports, the inquiries have zoomed in on the procedure for awarding contracts for the digital campaign to companies in Thuringia, Germany.
Mario Voigt has consistently denied any wrongdoing. EURACTIV has learnt that Voigt was recommended for the post by Udo Zolleis, the current head of the EPP’s strategy unit and Weber’s right-hand man, who has already testified about the case before the authorities.
According to EURACTIV’s information, the authorities have been examining how Voigt was hired in the EPP, whether contracts were lawfully awarded, and whether the companies outsourced to implement the centre-right party’s digital activities have had direct or indirect “interests” with Voigt.
Dara Murphy, the then campaign director, was mainly politically approving the outsourcing of contracts “up to an amount”, a source familiar with the matter told EURACTIV.
The source added that for implementing these policy decisions, all formalities had to be ensured by the then-deputy secretary general Luc Vandeputte, who has not been publicly mentioned in the investigation so far.
In this context, Voigt was instrumental as he was in charge of making expert proposals.
Several EPP sources confirmed to EURACTIV that Weber was not involved “administratively”, although the police raid caused the EPP chief headaches within his party.
The first sign of turmoil in the EPP following the raid was the cancellation of its group meeting scheduled for a week later in Warsaw.
Knives out in the EPP
At least €300,000 worth of contracts between the European People’s Party (EPP) and a company allegedly related to Mario Voigt, the EPP digital campaign manager during the 2019 EU election campaign, are on the radar of the German authorities, EURACTIV …
(Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com; Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic)
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