BRUSSELS — The European Public Prosecutor’s Office closed its investigation into top officials at the European People’s Party, including the group’s leader Manfred Weber, an EPPO spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO.

The case concerned allegations of misuse of EU funds dating back to 2019, when Weber was the center-right EPP’s lead candidate in the EU election.

“After a thorough investigation — which included, among other things, witness hearings, extensive data collection, and bank account analysis — the EPPO concludes that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offense has been committed,” the office said in a statement.

The inquiry by EPPO, which is tasked with rooting out criminal abuse of EU money,  examined whether the three individuals had improperly received payments from both the EPP party — a pan-European umbrella organization of conservative national parties — and the EPP group, the party’s delegation in the European Parliament.

The prosecutor’s statement reveals that the EPP president himself had been under investigation. The probe was previously understood to have been into several high-ranking officials.

A Belgian police document seen by POLITICO at the time listed alleged offenses under consideration, including “forgery of a public document,” “forgery of public documents by a civil servant in the performance of duties,” “breach of trust,” “fraud,” and “public corruption.”

Thursday’s EPPO statement doesn’t mention Weber by name, referring instead to “the president of a political group in the European Parliament and several of his collaborators.” However, as POLITICO previously reported, the only investigation of this kind conducted by EPPO concerned the EPP.

A spokesperson for Weber declined to comment.