Belgian investigators raided the European Commission's agriculture department today as part of an investigation into a suspected price fraud in the European grain trade.
A spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor's office said raids had been carried out in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Several people were detained.
Spokesman, Mr Jos Colpin, confirmed this evening that claims that cereals firms had prior knowledge grain prices was being investigated.
The inquiry comes at a sensitive time for the Commission, which is under political pressure over a scandal involving financial irregularities at its Eurostat statistics agency.
Mr Colpin said his office was alerted by the EU's anti-fraud unit OLAF, whose officials were also involved in the raid.