EU' commission president Ursula von der Leyen in dires traits
Smoke and mirrors with Ursula VDL
Smoke and mirrors with Ursula VDL
Last Monday, the editorial staff of Politico's EU watchers announced the scoop that the top European prosecutors have thrown themselves into the investigation into possible corruption with the purchase of the Covid vaccines by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (VDL). The prosecutors are mainly
interested in the private text messages between VDL and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. Hungary is now giving the investigation an extra boost by filing an official complaint about VDL's role in this case. Poland had also filed a complaint last year, but it was withdrawn when Donald Tusk came back to power after the elections.
Barely two months from the European elections and with VDL seeking re-election, the timing of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) can be said to be remarkable, to say the least, especially considering that this case has been dragging on since 2022, when the Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan - who, according to Reuters, previously mainly intervened in trade deals between China and the EU - filed a complaint with the Liège investigating judge Frederic Frenay. It has never become clear how Baldan knew about the secret text messages. VDL has always refused to provide insight into its SMS exchange with Pfizer CEO Bourla, prior to the mega order of 900 million doses of Covid vaccines from Pfizer, with an option for 900 million more vaccines to be delivered at a later date.
The Orgenises link
An interesting detail in this is that Ursula VDL's husband, Heiko VDL, is the Medical Director of US based pharmaceutical company Orgenesis, specialized in gene therapy, as used in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Ursula VDL has a PhD in Medicine and is on the scientific council of Orgenesis. Because there was never any transparency about the EU and Pfizer deal 'for competitive reasons', the correct final amount of the Pfizer deal was never announced. Depending on the source, this would amount to between 1.5 and 1.8 billion euros. The EPPO is now finally picking up the scent of the case and taking it out of the hands of the Belgian court in Liège where the file was gathering dust.
Passing the hot potato
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