The UK may have long ago left the European Union, but the legal fallout from Brexit is still rumbling on inside Belgium’s legal machinery.
A criminal court in Brussels on Wednesday convicted two Polish nationals – including a current European Parliament assistant – of misusing EU funds tied to political entities associated with Brexit-backer Nigel Farage.
The verdict marks the culmination of a ten-year case that started in a fierce political battle within the Parliament in the run-up to Brexit, and follows joint efforts by Parliament auditors, the EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF), and Belgian authorities to probe allegations of misuse of EU funds in support of the campaign for the UK to exit the bloc or alleged personal agenda.
The court said transfers totalling €119,960 lacked any EU-related justification, with one of the defendants using the proceeds to purchase property, two people familiar with the case said.
The two men were ordered to repay a combined sum of more than €100,000 to the Parliament, to pay fines of €90.000 and €72.000 and received suspended prison sentences of 18 and 15 months on charges of money laundering, breach of trust and forgery, the Belgian court said.
One of the convicted, the economist Marian Szolucha, has acted as a financial consultant for a Farage-linked political group, his lawyer Michal Drab said.
The other, Daniel Pawlowiec, was working as a parliamentary assistant for far-right Polish MEP Robert Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, who had joined Farage’s parliamentary group in 2014.
Pawlowiec is currently listed as an aide to far-right MEP Anna Bryłka, but was suspended in September after prosecutors sought a prison sentence, his lawyer Guillaume Lys said.
It remains unclear whether Pawlowiec will be allowed to return to his role. Both lawyers told Euractiv they are considering an appeal.
Brexit background
The Belgian probe traces back more than a decade to an anonymous tip that triggered a far-reaching probe into the Brussels-based networks orbiting Farage’s UK Independence Party and other populist movements active ahead of Brexit.
In 2014, Belgian authorities received a letter alleging financial wrongdoing by Mischaël Modrikamen, a far-right Belgian lawyer closely linked to Farage through two entities that had received close to €2 million in EU funding.
These were the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) – a pan-European political party of Eurosceptic MEPs, of which Farage’s party was the biggest party – and its affiliated think tank, the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE).
After the Parliament’s auditors raised concerns in 2016 and referred the case to the EU’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, funding for both organisations was frozen because of orders from top members of the institution. ADDE challenged the decision in front of the EU’s general court and won, while IDDE lost its case.
At the same time, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office opened its own probe.
While Modrikamen and his wife were later cleared, Belgian investigators found about €100,000 had been channelled through UK and Cypriot firms connected to the two groups before reaching the two Polish defendants. Both withdrew the amount in cash in 2015 and 2016, but the Court said they failed to explain why they had chosen to borrow money from these entities and why they still haven’t paid it back in its entirety.
Laure Ferrari, the partner of Nigel Farrage, also appeared in the case because of her role within IDDE, where she first served as a day-to-day manager and later as an executive director before resigning.
The case against her was also dismissed, a spokesperson for the Belgian criminal court told Euractiv. Ferrari declined to comment.
Long time coming
“This is a mountain that gave birth to a mouse,” said Lys, the lawyer for Pawlowiec, criticising the length of the investigation.
The defence also noted that no MEPs at the time had their parliamentary immunity lifted during the proceedings, which would have allowed investigators to ask if the withdrawals were part of a potential kick-back scheme.
“This judgment marks the conclusion of a long and complex procedure aimed at protecting the integrity of European public funds and the transparency of political financing,” a spokesperson for the Belgian criminal court said.
Nicolas Lissenko, a lawyer representing the Parliament, however, welcomed the ruling, saying it opened the door for the recovery of misused funds.
OLAF declined to comment on their investigation. A spokesperson for Farage did not comment.
(mm, jp)
