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The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) helps the 32
members of the world’s biggest security alliance and their
partners to buy defense equipment and other security systems and
support. NATO as an organization does not own any weapons.
The European Union’s criminal justice agency, Eurojust, said
Thursday that it had provided support for a cross-border
investigation into alleged corruption involving current and
former NSPA employees. The investigation stretches to Spain and
Luxembourg, where the NSPA is based.
Rutte said that the NATO agency is “working very closely with
all the relevant authorities, and obviously we will continue
doing that. We want to get to the root of this.” He spoke in
Turkey where he was chairing a meeting of NATO foreign
ministers.
Belgian prosecutors said Wednesday that two suspects in the
western region of Flanders had been taken in for questioning
over the allegations. One was arrested, the other released. No
names or details about them were provided.
They said that the probe is focusing on possible
“irregularities” in the awarding of contracts to defense
companies to buy military equipment like ammunition and drones,
which have become a decisive factor in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The prosecutors suspect that agency employees might have given
confidential information to the companies to help them win
contracts, and that money may have been laundered through
consultancy firms set up for the purpose.
In a related case, Dutch prosecutors announced earlier this week
that they had arrested a 58-year-old man from Rotterdam on
corruption charges. The prosecution service did not release his
name in line with their privacy rules, but said he was a former
Dutch defense ministry civil servant who “was responsible for
international purchase contracts.”
In a statement, prosecutors said the man is “suspected of having
taken bribes in 2023 regarding the awarding of purchase
contracts, together with others partly outside the Netherlands.”
Two other suspects, who were not civil servants, were also
arrested, the statement said. It did not provide further
details.
The suspects were appearing Thursday before an investigative
judge in the Netherlands.
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Mike Corder contributed to this story from The Hague,
Netherlands.
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