BRUSSELS: Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday resigned from her post as head of the College of Europe graduate school after being charged in a fraud probe.
"In line with the utmost rigour and fairness with which I always carried out my duties, today I decided to resign," Mogherini said in a statement.
Mogherini, who was high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019 before becoming rector at the college, was arrested on Tuesday following raids at the elite school and on the premises of the EU's EEAS diplomatic service.
The 52-year-old Italian was detained along with the school's deputy rector and Stefano Sannino, a senior EU official who was secretary general of the European External Action Service from 2021 to 2024.
After being questioned by Belgian police, "the three individuals were formally notified of the accusations against them", the European Public Prosecutor's Office, (EPPO) which is overseeing the probe, said on Thursday.
"The accusations concern procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy," it added in a statement.
The EPPO is investigating suspicions of fraud related to an EU-funded training scheme for junior diplomats, known as the European Union Diplomatic Academy.
The programme was awarded by the EEAS to the College of Europe in Belgium in the period 2021-2022, and the probe focuses on whether the tender process was skewed to favour the school.
Mogherini has headed the College of Europe since 2020, and in 2022 also took the helm of the EU Diplomatic Academy.
The contract involved was worth some 650,000 euros ($750,000), according to a European source.
The allegations targeting a such high-profile former and current EU officials have rocked the bloc's governing institutions in Brussels.
Second suspect Sannino announced on Wednesday that he was stepping back from his current top EU Commission job and would retire at the end of the month. - AFP
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