Von der Leyen is under investigation for text messages with the head of Pfizer

In recent months, the investigators of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the case of her suspected negotiations between the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Albert Bourla, regarding covid vaccines. The case was originally on the table of Belgian investigators in the city of Liège. But the powers of European investigators are stronger. For Leyenová, who would like to hold the post of head of the commission for another term, this is very unpleasant news ahead of the elections.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is based in Luxembourg, now according to the Politico server investigates possible unauthorized interference in the performance of a public function, destruction of SMS messages, corruption and conflict of interests von der Leyen.

An investigation was launched early last year by the Lithuanian authorities, namely on the basis of the criminal complaint of local lobbyist Frédérik Baldan. It was later joined by the Hungarian and Polish governments. But Poland is now withdrawing its criminal complaint – after the pro-European government coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk emerged victorious from last year’s elections there.

Baldan’s criminal complaint centers on the alleged exchange of text messages between von der Leyen and Bourlawhich was supposed to take place before the EU’s largest-ever vaccine trade was negotiated in 2021, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic.

The affair referred to as “Pfizergate” started the New York Times, which was the first to report on the correspondence between the President of the European Commission and the CEO of Pfizer. In that context, the newspaper filed its own lawsuit against the European Commissiondue to her refusal to publish the content of the given correspondence.

The fact that the case has now been taken over by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office marks the opening of a new chapter in its investigation. The office conducts pan-European investigations of financial crime and has the power to seize cell phones and other evidence both directly at the headquarters of the European Commission and in other European countries, including Germany, i.e. von der Leyen’s homeland.

It is estimated that the vaccine business of the European Commission and Pfizer by its volume exceeded the value of twenty billion euros, i.e. 500 billion crowns, and the EU member states could not easily retreat from it even at a time when the spread of the disease was already easing. At the same time, vaccines for at least four billion euros, which corresponds to more than 100 billion crowns, were purchased unnecessarily and were disposed of without use, as Politico calculated at the end of last year.