BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday that the organization’s procurement agency is cooperating with police investigating corruption and fraud allegations involving the purchase of military equipment.
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.
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