The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office has closed an investigation into the possible poisoning of three detectives involved in the Qatargate case.
For about two years, the federal prosecutor’s office has been conducting a comprehensive investigation into efforts by Qatar and Morocco to manipulate the European Parliament’s economic and political decision-making processes.
In late January, a chief inspector of the federal judicial police, who was heading the investigation, was apprehended after he and two colleagues allegedly caused a disturbance in a Brussels café while intoxicated.
The chief inspector was reported to have assaulted a waiter, and to have behaved so uncontrollably that he had to be injected with a sedative and taken to hospital for a urine and blood test. He subsequently lodged a complaint for attempted murder after the original laboratory report from the hospital indicated the presence of amphetamine in his blood.
“An extensive tracing investigation has been conducted by the public prosecutor’s office, including a toxicological examination, to determine whether this could be a case of poisoning,” said public prosecutor’s spokesperson Yasmina Vanoverschelde.
“Contradictory to the initial laboratory analysis, a detailed examination by the National Institute for Forensic Science and Criminology (NICC) and additional tests performed by the hospital where the complainant was admitted showed no traces of amphetamines or other drugs in the samples of the three victims.”
These findings and additional investigations led to the conclusion that there was no evidence of poisoning, so the case was dismissed, Vanoverschelde explained.
