Simon Van Dorpe

Impact EU antitrust announcement at 11:45 on #SAP share price. Looks like the company quickly recovered from a relatively small hit

🔥Breaking: EU Commission opens antitrust investigation into #SAP, Germany's largest (and Europe's second largest) company, for allegedly restricting competition in support services on its popular ERP software. Five years ago, I wrote this story for @politico.eu www.politico.eu/article/pres...

🔥Breaking: EU Commission opens antitrust investigation into #SAP, Germany's largest (and Europe's second largest) company, for allegedly restricting competition in support services on its popular ERP software. Five years ago, I wrote this story for @politico.eu www.politico.eu/article/pres...

Argent libyen de Sarkozy : suivez le dénouement du procès en direct Le tribunal judiciaire rend jeudi sa décision dans l’affaire du financement libyen de la campagne de Nicolas Sarkozy pour l’élection présidentielle de 2007. Le parquet a requis sept ans de prison et …

Nicolas Sarkozy déclaré coupable d’association de malfaiteurs dans l’affaire du financement libyen de sa campagne pour l’élection présidentielle de 2007

www.mediapart.fr/journal/fran...

Guéant et Hortefeux sont aussi déclarés coupables

Europe’s public bank rocked by conflicts of interest and favouritism yet again Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

Europe’s public bank rocked by conflicts of interest and favouritism - yet again..

Our Brussels newsletter is out!
@simonvandorpe.bsky.social www.ftm.eu/articles/bur...

YouTube video by Movieclips Follow the Money - All the President's Men (4/9) Movie CLIP (1976) HD

Many ask why the platform I work for is called Follow the Money. The answer lies in this iconic scene with the late #RobertRedford. It inspired our founders @arnevanderwal.bsky.social and Eric Smit to start @ftm.nl 15 years ago. ⏩ Jump to 2:30 if you're short on time

I was just accidentally added to a chat group of politicians but I was too honest and have already been removed. There goes my Pulitzer 😞

And what does private equity have to do with this, @ec.europa.eu ?

Indeed, nice words that are hard to rhyme with how Ursula von der Leyen runs the European Commission. The lack of self-criticism and the double standards are blinding

EU’s chief prosecutor goes head-to-head with Brussels elite over corruption fight In its fight against fraud and corruption, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has locked horns with EU institutions and powerful political figures. Under Laura Codruța Kövesi, its uncompro...

🔥 Laura Kövesi, the first European Chief Prosecutor, has locked horns with EU institutions and powerful political figures. Insiders question if her successor, whose appointment process is in full swing, will continue to crack the whip.

✅ Free to read today on @ftm.eu ⤵️

www.ftm.eu/articles/eu-...

Great, incisive profile of a figure who certainly has ruffled feathers in Brussels. Many great details. Don't miss it.

EU’s chief prosecutor goes head-to-head with Brussels elite over corruption fight In its fight against fraud and corruption, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has locked horns with EU institutions and powerful political figures. Under Laura Codruța Kövesi, its uncompro...

EU Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi has shone a spotlight not only on misconduct in member states, but also on influential figures in Brussels – including none other than Ursula von der Leyen. So with her mandate coming to an end, some fear that her replacement may be a safer political choice.

EU’s chief prosecutor goes head-to-head with Brussels elite over corruption fight In its fight against fraud and corruption, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has locked horns with EU institutions and powerful political figures. Under Laura Codruța Kövesi, its uncompro...

🔥 Laura Kövesi, the first European Chief Prosecutor, has locked horns with EU institutions and powerful political figures. Insiders question if her successor, whose appointment process is in full swing, will continue to crack the whip.

✅ Free to read today on @ftm.eu ⤵️

www.ftm.eu/articles/eu-...

Top Belgian prosecutor seeks resources to fight international corruption Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

@ftm.eu's crime and corruption newsletter is back after a revitalising summer break 🔥

Today:

✅ Belgium’s top prosecutor on corruption probes
✅ A tour of Europe of this summer's corruption news
✅ ING under criminal scrutiny in Didier Reynders probe

Read it here ⤵️

www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

Former EU boss keeps office in von der Leyen’s building – and allows his guests to lobby in secret Years after stepping down as head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker still meets with lobbyists and foreign diplomats in the Berlaymont, the EU executive’s seat in Brussels. He holds regu...

The former president of the European Commission still holds office at his old headquarters, where he regularly receives prominent guests. According to the Kazakh government, he also offered help as go-between. Jean-Claude Juncker himself denies this, claiming that he is “immune” to influence.

🧨 New revelation in the Pfizergate affair over Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s texts with the Pfizer CEO.

The European Commission admitted to the New York Times this week that it lost the texts only after I made an official request for them.

🧵

'We refuse to see them die': AFP addresses about journalists' risk of starvation in Gaza

AFP says its journalists are starving to death in Gaza

Podcast | Inside the Huawei corruption scandal that rocked Brussels The Huawei corruption scandal has cast a long shadow over Brussels. Several individuals have been charged over allegations that lobbyists for the Chinese tech giant bribed members of the European Pa...

FTM's new PODCAST is out!

Behind the scenes of the Huawei bribery scandal with the investigative journalists who unraveled the story: @simonvandorpe.bsky.social and @alexfanta.bsky.social

@ftm.eu

www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

I had the same feeling with commentators who've been predicting the crash of the Chinese economy for decades

Chairman Trump is the red Sun in our hearts! With him, everything. Without him, nothing.

At @ftm.eu, we obviously hope the next 🇪🇺 budget will be more transparent, but the way @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu said it, was not entirely convincing

📣 The European Parliament wants EPPO candidate Peter Klement to lead European anti-fraud office OLAF. The order still needs to be endorsed by EU countries (should not be an obstacle, I’m told). The Commission will have the final say, but this order will be hard to ignore

🔥 NEWS from the Didier Reynders investigation ⤵️

U.S. gets sneak peek at Europe's military tech through CIA-backed fund Amid Donald Trump’s unpredictable and often adversarial approach to foreign policy, the EU is seeking greater military autonomy. But a CIA-backed venture fund is investing in dozens of European defenc...

As the EU pushes for military independence, the CIA is gaining quiet influence through its venture fund. The fund invests in European defence start-ups, not for profit, but for strategic insight. While Europe wants autonomy, U.S. intelligence is staying close to the action.

Central Europe is well represented in race to lead @euantifraud.bsky.social, with (in order of appearance) a Czech, a Polish and a Slovak candidate. Italian is most likely to drop as @euparliament.bsky.social and
@press.consilium.europa.eu bring list down to 3 candidates, we hear

‘This MEP is on my payroll’: Huawei lobbyist bragged about bribery in the office At a time when Huawei’s reputation hit a new low in Brussels, one man kept the doors to politicians open – until he was arrested for alleged bribery. Now, insiders tell Follow the Money that Huawei’s ...

‼️ In March, Huawei’s EU corruption scandal made headlines across the world. Today, @ftm.eu returns with an insiders’ perspective: ten former employees shared their experience with the tech giant’s Brussels office … and its rogue lobbyist. Read the full story for free today www.ftm.eu/articles/hua...

🆕 The 4 candidates to become the new chief of EU antifraud office OLAF are Petr Klement (EPPO), Joanna Krzeminska-Vamvaka (EEAS, Former OLAF), Ladislav Hamran (Eurojust President until January) and Gabriele Failla (Guardia di Finanza). They will be heard by EU Parliament CONT committee on 14 July

‘This MEP is on my payroll’: Huawei lobbyist bragged about bribery in the office At a time when Huawei’s reputation hit a new low in Brussels, one man kept the doors to politicians open – until he was arrested for alleged bribery. Now, insiders tell Follow the Money that Huawei’s ...

To win back EU access, Huawei turned to a rogue lobbyist. Valerio Ottati secured high-level meetings – but his former colleagues long suspected he was rigging the game, by bribing officials and falsifying documents. Managers looked away, until police stepped in. www.ftm.eu/articles/hua...

In his self-published memoirs, Rivellini, who chaired the Parliament’s delegation for relations with China, said he introduced Ottati to Zhong Rong, an aide to the Chinese EU ambassador. “Zhong was a great tennis fan and with Valerio Ottati, my assistant who was a professional player, he would play and take lessons,” Rivellini wrote. He added that he believed Zhong to be a “man of the secret services because of what I learned about him later”. Rivellini and the Chinese representation to the EU did not reply to requests for comment. Whether Ottati really was in touch with a Chinese intelligence operative is difficult to verify. But some clues remain. According to Chinese records, an official named Zhong Ronglai served as diplomat at the Chinese Mission to the European Union in 2011 and 2012 - around the same time Ottati worked as assistant with Rivellini. The Chinese mission did not reply to Follow the Money’s questions about Zhong Ronglai and his role in Brussels. Ottati later told his colleagues at Huawei that he had given tennis lessons to Chinese officials, two of these colleagues, who have in the meantime left the firm, said. When Belgian intelligence services were looking into Huawei, they specifically checked if the company's lobbyists who were previously employed by EU institutions had any ties with the Chinese government, Politico wrote in March 2023.

This is perhaps the most surprising, vexing find from our latest report about corruption allegations against #HuaweiGate in Brussels. The man at the centre of allegations is thought to have had a link to Chinese intelligence more than a decade ago.

‘This MEP is on my payroll’: Huawei lobbyist bragged about bribery in the office At a time when Huawei’s reputation hit a new low in Brussels, one man kept the doors to politicians open – until he was arrested for alleged bribery. Now, insiders tell Follow the Money that Huawei’s ...

‼️ In March, Huawei’s EU corruption scandal made headlines across the world. Today, @ftm.eu returns with an insiders’ perspective: ten former employees shared their experience with the tech giant’s Brussels office … and its rogue lobbyist. Read the full story for free today www.ftm.eu/articles/hua...