Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office announced that Michel Cleese, the investigating judge in the corruption case in the European Parliament known as Qatargate, has decided to step down from the investigation.
"As a precautionary measure, and in order to allow justice to continue its work calmly and to maintain the necessary separation between private and family life and professional responsibilities, the investigating judge Michel Cleese has informed us that he has decided this evening to step down from his position in the case," the statement, published by the Belgian news agency, reads.
"Several elements have recently emerged that could raise questions about the objective direction of the investigation," the statement said. Politico and De Standaard newspapers wrote that Cleese's withdrawal is linked to relations between his son and the son of a member of the European Parliament, Maria Arena, a Belgian from the Socialist and Democratic Party bloc.
According to the statement, "Arena has not been questioned or charged in the Qatargate investigation, but it is said that she is a close friend of the main suspect, the Italian parliamentarian Pier Antonio Panzeri, who is from the same parliamentary bloc." Politico wrote that Arena and Cleese's children had known each other for many years and shared ownership of the property. a company
"There are no objective elements that would call into question the integrity of any of the persons involved or the extent of the work carried out by each of them and the investigators," the prosecutor's statement said.
The Public Prosecutor's Office said that another investigative judge who had already intervened in the case several times would take over the investigation. According to Politico, the judge in question is Aurélie Dejaiffe.

The Greek Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, was arrested on December 9, after her father was arrested earlier the same day with a large amount of money, and her partner, Francisio Giorgi, was also deprived of his freedom. The arrests came within the framework of an investigation conducted by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Belgium about Qatar’s attempts to influence economic and political decision-making in the European Parliament, by paying large sums to people with a political or strategic position within Europe. Parliament or make great gifts for display. Morocco was also mentioned in the investigation, with possible corruption by the General Intelligence Agency and Morocco's ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmon. According to local media in Brussels, quoting the Belgian news agency, which added that in this investigation, sixteen house searches were carried out on December 9 in Ixelles, Schaerbeek, Kreinem, Fürst, Brussels, and six people were arrested.
  They are Eva Cayley, her father and partner, former Italian deputy Pier Antonio Panzeri, Italian lobbyist Niccolò Vega Talamanca, and trade unionist Luca Visentini.
Federal Judicial Police investigators seized 1.5 million euros during house searches and arrests. 700,000 euros in cash was seized at Panzieri's house, while Eva Kayli's father, who was staying with his wife in Brussels, was arrested at his hotel with a suitcase full of 600,000 euros worth of banknotes. Later that day, Eva Kylie was also arrested and her home was searched. It is said that Kylie was in possession of about 150 thousand euros.