The European Parliament has rejected a request by Belgian prosecutors to waive the parliamentary immunity of Maltese MEP Daniel Attard, after a parliamentary committee concluded that key elements of the case were based on mistaken identity.
The decision follows an investigation by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, which found serious flaws in the request submitted by Belgian authorities.
In its report, the committee said that allegations first communicated in September 2025 "turned out to be based on mistaken identity," adding that this "further exacerbated the serious doubts surrounding the line of argument underlying the initial request."
The vote effectively brings an end to proceedings seeking to lift Attard's immunity in connection with a wider Belgian investigation involving Chinese technology giant Huawei.
Reacting to the decision, the Labour Party said the outcome confirmed that justice had prevailed, while criticising Nationalist Party representatives who, it claimed, had rushed to condemn Attard before all the facts were known.
"Over the past thirteen months, several representatives of the Nationalist Party worked tirelessly to condemn Daniel Attard before the facts were even known," the party said, arguing that political opponents had portrayed the MEP as guilty despite the ongoing investigation.
The case dates to a corruption probe launched by Belgian prosecutors more than a year ago into allegations that Huawei attempted to influence members of the European Parliament through gifts and other benefits.
Attard came under scrutiny after it emerged that he had attended a football match at Anderlecht's stadium at the invitation of a Huawei lobbyist who was himself under investigation.
Belgian investigators also flagged a series of payments originating from individuals in China and Hong Kong which they believed had been transferred to a bank account linked to Attard.
However, prosecutors later acknowledged that the payments were not connected to the Labour MEP but to another individual with the same name - Daniel Attard, the mayor of Għasri.
The Għasri mayor, a lawyer by profession, had previously assisted clients applying for Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme. Investigators later concluded that the payments in question were likely linked to that work.
In its findings, the European Parliament's legal affairs committee highlighted the mistaken identity as a significant factor undermining the credibility of the request submitted by Belgian authorities.
The European Parliament's decision means that Attard will retain his parliamentary immunity.