An Italian lawmaker defended himself on Tuesday against allegations that he took bribes from Chinese tech giant Huawei, as the European Parliament considers a request from Belgian prosecutors to lift his immunity as part of a corruption probe.
Fulvio Martusciello, a centre-right member of the European Parliament (MEP), said that thousands of euros paid into his Belgian bank account last June were not bribes but reimbursements from his former aide.
In a statement to the Parliament’s legal affairs committee, Martusciello said the bank transfers totalling €6,700 were repayments for cash he’d lent to Nuno WM – whom Belgian investigators suspect was an intermediary in the alleged bribery.
In March last year, Follow the Money and its media partners broke the news that Belgian police had raided the homes and offices of several Huawei lobbyists and parliamentary assistants suspected of bribing MEPs with cash and gifts in exchange for political influence.
Four people were charged with bribery and for being part of a criminal organisation, and a fifth person with money laundering. Belgian prosecutors said in January that all suspects have since been released while awaiting a possible trial.
The most serious allegation is that associates of Valerio Otatti – a former Huawei lobbyist and the main suspect in the case – paid MEPs to sign a letter backing the Chinese company’s interests, specifically the deployment of its 5G technology across the bloc.
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According to the arrest warrant issued in March 2025 by Belgian investigators, “a sum of €15,000 may have been proposed to the letter’s author, whereas each co-signatory may have been offered a sum of €1,500”.
Police in Belgium found a draft document of the letter on Ottati’s computer, and investigators think he could have been involved in writing it.
The file had been created by someone called “Nuno”. Belgian authorities believe that to be Nuno WM – Martusciello’s ex-aide – and suspect he later paid the authors of the letter.
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A leaked document from the corruption probe seen by FTM indicates that Nuno WM received €45,950 in early 2021 from two companies that regularly provided services to Huawei after sending them invoices that investigators consider to be fake.
In the five months after the money hit his Portuguese bank accounts, Nuno WM redistributed it to several recipients, including Martusciello, according to the Belgian authorities.
Martusciello maintained his innocence in his statement to the European Parliament, arguing he “would be the first person in history to have a corrupt activity paid for via a traceable bank transfer”.
“In reality, those transfers were simple reimbursements for cash sums that I withdrew from my own account and advanced to him [Nuno WM],” he wrote in the statement, a copy of which was obtained by FTM.
“These were small cash sums that I provided given the difficulties of that period, a normal occurrence in a friendship.”
Martusciello did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In the statement, he said he has “never received benefits or advantages from Huawei”.
Nuno WM was arrested in France on 13 March 2025 and was extradited to Belgium, but has since been released.
His lawyer told FTM and other media at the time that he “contests the facts he is suspected of and reserves his explanations for the investigation judge”.
Immunity saga
Belgian prosecutors have asked the European Parliament to lift the immunity of Martusciello and three other MEPs as part of the Huawei investigation.
In his statement, Martusciello called on his fellow MEPs to reject the request – which was first submitted in May last year.
“A request for waiver presented with such levity and superficiality … constitutes a grave limitation of our activities and jeopardises the credibility and correct functioning of our institution,” he wrote.
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Martusciello also denied attending a 3 November 2023 meeting with Ottati, the ex-Huawei lobbyist. The statement referred to an internal report – discovered by Belgian prosecutors – that had been written by Otatti for his superiors following the alleged meeting.
The Italian politician – who is a member of Forza Italia, the party of the late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – wrote that the meeting “never happened” and was “completely invented”.
Martusciello referred to prior reporting by FTM in which at least five of Ottati’s ex-colleagues alleged that he had forged emails and expense notes for meetings that never took place.
“The truth, the only truth, is that I do not know Mr. Ottati, I have never socialised with him … and the meeting he claims to have had with me is entirely fabricated,” Martusciello wrote.
The rapporteur responsible for dealing with the Martusciello case will draft a report recommending whether to lift the MEP’s immunity.
That report will “most likely” be put to a vote at the legal affairs committee’s next meeting on 15 April, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.
Once the committee decides whether to waive his immunity, the matter will proceed to a plenary vote, where a final decision is taken.
In such cases, MEPs typically follow the committee’s recommendation.
Huawei has previously told FTM that it regrets that the immunity proceedings at the European Parliament linger and are still ongoing, preventing authorities from asking relevant questions to the allegedly involved MEPs”.
