Alistair Keepe

Newsletter | New Parliament working group to review internal spending rules Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

⚖️ In this week’s Crime & Corruption newsletter:

- The European Parliament quietly rethinks its internal spending rules
- Heated fallout from the latest Qatargate ruling
- Raids over a €900m Brussels property deal, plus fresh charges in the Didier Reynders probe

⚖️As Ukraine fights a full-scale invasion, sanctioned Russian billionaires are demanding hundreds of millions in compensation – exploiting investment treaties to sue the war-torn state from courtrooms across Europe.

Read the article: www.ftm.eu/articles/rus...

For this week's crime & corruption newsletter I spoke to @wouterwolfs.bsky.social about the use of parliamentary immunity as a tactic to evade national scrutiny. Could it prove a viable strategy in the case of ECR MEP Daniel Obajtek, member of the Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party?

EU has the power to fight foreign meddling – but isn’t using it, democracy expert says Foreign actors are intensfying their efforts to influence Europe’s democracies, and the EU is scrambling to respond. Its lawmakers are set to vote this week on creating national transparency registers...

For @ftm.eu I interviewed the Jacques Delors Centre’s democracy expert @luisequaritsch.bsky.social on the issue of covert malign interference in the EU.

Quaritsch warns that while the dangers are increasing (“it’s not just Russia or China anymore”), the EU remains “uniquely vulnerable” to threats.

Met ‘gerechtelijke terreur’ weet de olie- en gasindustrie klimaatbeleid te frustreren Wereldwijd krijgen overheden te maken met een recordaantal claims van energiebedrijven die menen de dupe te zijn van klimaatbeleid. Hun toegangsdeur naar de pot met geld is een schimmig tribunaal in W...

Terwijl de aarde opwarmt, slaan fossiele brandstof- en mijnbouwbedrijven terug tegen klimaatbeleid. Via schimmige tribunalen eisen ze miljarden van overheden en claimen ze ‘misgelopen winst’ als schade – met 2025 als recordjaar. Uit angst voor dure rechtszaken worden plannen afgezwakt of uitgesteld.

On Monday @alistairkeepe.bsky.social asked why Commission President’s Signal messages were auto-deleted. Part of the answer: to save space.

On Tuesday @alexfanta.bsky.social followed up: von der Leyen has a smartphone with lots of storage, so what gives?

The question was skillfully sidestepped.

Record number of corporate lawsuits target climate action in controversial tribunal Behind closed doors in Washington, D.C., fossil fuel and mining companies are suing governments over lost profits. Follow the Money has analysed how a system built to protect foreign investors poses a...

2025 is a record-breaking year for claims filed by fossil fuel and mining firms against democratic policies – marking a grim milestone in a surge of polluting industries seeking compensation for lost profits via a secretive tribunal.

For @ftm.eu with contributions by ao @anilyilmaz.bsky.social

EU Transparency Call

This morning, journalists from across Europe went public with a call to the European Commission to keep the promise of the EU treaties, and actually stick to the bloc's freedom of information law.

See below Politico's Brussels Playbook:
www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

The EU #Transparency Register secretariat has confirmed that our complaint against MCC Brussels is admissible & that they have opened an investigation 👏

MCC Brussels, a far right 'think tank' spreading Orban regime propaganda, fails to disclose financial information, including its funding sources ⚠️

EU lawmaker gets rid of defence stocks after conflict of interest questions A Finnish centre-right EU lawmaker sold her stocks in defence companies after concerns about conflicts of interest emerged.

Finnish MEP Aura Salla dumped all her stocks in arms makers just one day after FTM revealed she owned them while at the same time calling for more EU defence spending. “I want to make sure there never will be a conflict of interest,” she said.

Today a majority of the European Parliament called for the “full and urgent” implementation of the EU Ethics Body, after the Huawei scandal added “special urgency to starting the work without delay". Rightwing groups, including EPP, are still trying to block more transparency. Article in comments.

Seems that the Patriots for Europe are acting on the ideas that they floated during an event in the European Parliament last week, organised together with Hungarian and Orbán-linked think tank MCC Brussels

MEP Aura Salla is a member of the ITRE committee (the lead parliament committee drafting the rules for the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme) and the owner of stocks in defence companies. She even bought more during her MEP tenure. And yet she does not see a conflict of interest.

And Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Salvini denouncing the “declaration of war by Brussels” while the EU obviously had nothing to do with the decision

Huaweigate: four suspects remain in custody Five people have been charged as part of a Belgian investigation into alleged corruption by lobbyists of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, sources close to the investigation told Follow the Money, Le Soi...

HuaweiGate update: Five people have been charged in the corruption probe into Huawei lobbyists. Four suspects remain in custody as police search for evidence that representatives of the Chinese tech giant broke the law when lobbying MEPs. #HuaweiGate

Nieuw corruptie­schandaal Europees Parlement: invallen bij lobbyisten van Huawei In een grootschalig corruptieonderzoek naar het Chinese Huawei deed de Belgische politie donderdagochtend invallen in woningen van lobbyisten van het techbedrijf. Ze worden onder meer verdacht van het...

BREAKING: De Belgische politie viel vanochtend binnen bij woningen van Huawei-lobbyisten in een grootschalig corruptieonderzoek. Zij zouden Europarlementariërs hebben omgekocht om Huawei’s belangen te behartigen. In totaal werden 21 adressen doorzocht. #HuaweiGate

Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe Chinese tech giant Huawei is at the centre of a new corruption case in Europe’s capital. On Thursday, Belgian police raided the homes of its lobbyists, Follow the Money and its media partners Le Soir ...

SCOOP: Brussels is facing a new corruption scandal. Belgian police raided 21 homes today as part of a corruption probe into Huawei’s EU lobbying. Lobbyists for the Chinese tech giant are suspected of bribing MEPs in exchange for their public support. #HuaweiGate
www.ftm.eu/articles/hua...

Bij Transavia overwintert personeel op kosten van het UWV Honderden werknemers van Transavia zitten jaarlijks zes weken thuis met een ww-uitkering. Ondertussen blijven ze gewoon in dienst. Experts noemen de constructie sneu en onethisch, maar het UWV zegt er...

Honderden Transavia-medewerkers krijgen een ww-uitkering terwijl ze gewoon een vast contract hebben.

Nieuw verhaal over de luchtvaartindustrie 👇

www.ftm.nl/artikelen/bi...

Good moment to reread colleague @jesse-pinster.bsky.social’s investigative piece on the controversial Orban-linked think tank MCC and how they operate in Brussels

Chloorgif en dwangarbeid: de spotgoedkope spullen van Decathlon hebben een prijs De productie van Decathlon-kleding gaat gepaard met grove mensenrechtenschendingen: van lage lonen tot dwangarbeid. Ook de natuur komt er slecht vanaf bij de sportketen die mensen wil stimuleren meer ...

Ontbossing met chloorgif, fout katoen en dwangarbeid in fabrieken. Bij de productie van Decathlon-spullen gaat veel mis. En niet per ongeluk. Uit gelekte documenten blijkt hoezeer het bedrijf stuurt op kostenverlaging. ‘Ze vechten voor elke cent.’

Top Decathlon supplier profits from Uyghur forced labour in China labour scheme A key supplier for the French retailer Decathlon has benefited from forced labour involving China’s marginalised Uyghur minority as part of a state scheme, Follow the Money and media partners can reve...

Top Decathlon supplier profits from Uyghur forced labour in China labour scheme
www.ftm.eu/articles/dec...

Read the latest chapter in the Russian shadowfleet saga today for free on our website

FTM's @simonvandorpe.bsky.social was looking for some answers after all the scandals that hit the European Investment Bank (EIB)
www.ftm.eu/articles/sca... @ftm.eu

He got none.
newsroom.consilium.europa.eu/events/20250...

Unfortunately, this seems to be the case every time with EU institutions.

European Investment Bank under scrutiny as top management joins private companies Five out of ten members who left the European Investment Bank’s key decision making body since January 2019 have been involved in revolving doors scandals. The bank has not sanctioned any of them. Cur...

Starting a new job at a company that borrows money from the bank you just left? At the European Investment Bank, that’s business as usual. Our analysis exposes the ever-spinning revolving door between the EIB and companies – and the conflicts of interest that come with it. www.ftm.eu/articles/the...

Bank of scandals: toxic culture of favouritism exposed at the European Investment Bank The most important bank of the European Union is plagued by scandals. A Follow the Money investigation reveals how in the top management layers of the European Investment Bank a toxic culture of favou...

🔥 Over the past 5 months, I have been intensively scrutinizing the European Investment Bank, after news broke that former President Werner Hoyer was under investigation for corruption. Turns out it was just the tip of the iceberg. Read our story for free today on @ftm.eu

www.ftm.eu/articles/sca...

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Money laundering case against ex-EU justice chief Reynders: 5 things we know so far Follow the Money and Le Soir revealed on Tuesday that former EU justice chief Reynders is under investigation by the Belgian authorities for suspicions of money laundering. Here are the five latest th...

UPDATE in the Reynders case: he has to explain the origin of approximately one million euros to investigators, Belgian public broadcaster RTBF writes this morning.

This and the five other things you need to know

www.ftm.eu/articles/rey...

Witwaszaak rond Didier Reynders, ex-Eurocommissaris voor Justitie: 5 dingen die we nu weten Follow the Money en Le Soir onthulden dinsdag dat Didier Reynders, tot afgelopen zaterdag nog Eurocommissaris voor Justitie, door de Belgische politie van witwassen wordt verdacht. Wat is er precies a...

De vijf dingen die je moet weten over de witwaszaak rond oud-Eurocommissaris voor Justitie, Didier Reynders.

www.ftm.nl/artikelen/di...

Who knew European Commissioners could be so fabulous? Great video by colleague @lisannevanvucht.bsky.social