March 28, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1428

BRUSSELS, March 27 Police in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Italy raided European Commission offices, banks and homes on Tuesday in a probe into alleged corruption, Belgian prosecutors said, according to Belga news agency.

More than 150 police took part in the swoop, impounding documents and questioning several people on orders from a Belgian investigating magistrate, Belga news agency quoted a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office as saying.

Belga said the case involved suspected bribes by companies to European civil servants to skew tenders for the installation of security systems at European Union offices in several countries.

A European Commission spokesman said the EU executive was cooperating fully with the investigation through its independent anti-fraud agency OLAF, but he declined to disclose any details of the case.

“Until the investigation is concluded and the facts are fully established, the presumption of innocence applies,” spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told a news briefing.

He would not say whether any Commission staff had been suspended in the probe.—Reuters