Amid allegations of leaks in the Qatargate corruption investigation, a senior Belgian police official has been "relieved of duty" until further notice, reports La Libre.
The police official is Commissioner Philippe Noppe, head of the Central Office for the Fight against Organised Economic and Financial Crime (OCDEFO), the newspaper reported earlier this week. A police source familiar with the matter also confirmed the news to Euractiv.
Noppen was told that he had been suspended on Monday, La Libre learned from a reliable source. The measure is said to have come directly from the Directorate-General of the Judicial Police (DGJ).
The decision comes in the wake of the judicial investigation into leaks in the Qatargate investigation, a corruption scandal in the European Parliament that has been making headlines since the end of 2022.
An internal investigation within the federal police was also opened, after key suspects (socialist MP Marie Arena and her son) filed a complaint against unidentified persons for sharing confidential information and breaching the secrecy of the investigation.
No convictions were made, but the probe caused upheaval within the Belgian police force: in February 2025, investigators from the General Inspectorate (AIG) raided the office and home of Hugues Tasiaux, who at the time was the interim head of the Central Office for the Suppression of Corruption (OCRC) – another police body that played an important role in the Qatargate case.
As part of this case, a number of investigators working on the case were questioned. This included Philippe Noppe, who was interviewed once on 19 February 2025, not as a suspect but as a witness.
Tasiaux was later charged with violating professional secrecy and was subsequently suspended. However, he told Euractiv at the time that he was "very serene" as he denied wrongdoing.
