Disturbing news emerged in Brussels on Thursday afternoon of an alleged plot to poison a lead federal investigator in the Qatargate corruption probe. Press sources reported that the officer was hospitalised in late January with a near-fatal dose of amphetamines found in his system.
Belgian federal police this week launched an attempted murder investigation into the incident. Reports say the investigator had been behaving erratically at a cafe where he was drinking socially with two police colleagues.
Originally suspected of drinking in excess before causing a commotion, the investigator was initially arrested. He was later taken to the hospital for emergency surgery on his abdomen when he was discovered to have internal bleeding. Subsequent blood tests revealed him to have ingested a high dose of amphetamines. He remained in hospital for six days and is understood to have a poor recollection of the night’s events.
The alleged poisoning, Belgian De Standaard speculates, could be related to the year-long Qatargate saga that revealed a shadowy underworld of bribery and foreign intelligence operatives active at the heart of the European Parliament.
Qatargate exploded onto the international stage last year when police dramatically raided the home of the Parliament’s Vice President and socialist politician Eva Kaili, with further revelations linking the Greek MEP to a bribery network to influence the Parliament’s human rights reporting.
Police this month reopened questioning of MEP Maria Arena with lingering questions about the extent to which agents of the Moroccan and Qatari governments penetrated the European Parliament through false NGOs and direct bribery.
