A Belgian intelligence board has stated that the methods of information gathering used by the Belgian intelligence and security agency (VSSE) in the context of the “Qatargate” scandal were legal.
Defendants in the Qatargate investigation had asked Committee R, the Standing Committee for the Control of the Intelligence and Security Services, to check all due processes had been correctly observed.
The Committee said in a letter to the investigating judge that the data collection methods had taken place according to the law.
The Committee had already issued an opinion confirming the legality on 17 January, but the prosecutor’s office only made that public on January 28.
Throughout the Qatargate case, defence groups have questioned how the investigative authorities had operated. Some argued the authorities did not follow the rules and had even violated the rights of clients, for example by not respecting European Parliament immunity.
Sven Mary, defence lawyer of Eva Kaili, former vice-president of the EP, claimed her arrest was illegal because she was investigated – and the EP was infiltrated – while Kaili’s immunity was still in place.
“In June 2022, a judicial investigation was initiated, involving wiretapping techniques and observations that, in our opinion, are not legally valid. We request the court to now verify this,” Mary said in September 2023.
Qatargate has hit a major road block as defence lawyers claim fundamental legal procedural errors have been made. https://t.co/ELB1UcCgk0
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 20, 2023
Some defendants have questioned the contribution of the VSSE throughout the Qatargate affair.
Speaking in the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique in June 2024, Dimitri de Beco, the lawyer for defendant Andrea Cozzolino, argued that the intelligence service had taken on the role of a police force.
“Many judicial investigations are ‘fed’ by State Security. I emphasise ‘fed.’ But here, we are dealing with something different. Here, the State Security Service has replaced the investigators, and that is alarming,” de Beco said.
Despite that, it seemed the Committee had now sided with the investigators.
Responding on January 27, de Beco told Belgian media he regretted he had only found out about relevant information and the opinion finally arrived at via the press and not through the investigating judge or the prosecutor’s office.
According to him, this was “symptomatic of the way this case has been handled from the beginning”. He said he feared the Committee “did not have the courage to recognise that there is a problem in this case”.
Earlier reporting by Belgian media implied that Qatargate had been decisively influenced by intelligence services.
In 2021, the VSSE used information received from a European partner to launch investigations into the alleged interference of a foreign power, Belgian broadcaster RTBF noted.
It was in this context that exceptional methods of information gathering, such as wiretapping, shadowing or home visits were used, it was reported.
In 2020, members of the VSSE entered the home of a former MEP, Pier-Antonio Panzeri, after having used these specific and exceptional methods of information gathering. They reportedly found €100,000 cash at the targeted home.
While Belgian police and the investigative judge have been prosecuting alleged corruption and influence peddling, the Belgian intelligence service was said to be identifying threats to democratic institutions.
People behind both investigations are reportedly in regular communication.
Qatargate emerged in December 2022, involving allegations that Qatar and Morocco bribed European politicians to influence decisions within the European Parliament.
Authorities have seized large sums of cash and the case raised concerns about possible foreign interference in EU institutions. The investigation revealed an alleged network of lobbying, money laundering and influence-peddling.
Belgium will leave it to Rabat to try its two nationals allegedly involved in the corruption and interference scandal in the European Parliament.https://t.co/K1YowoZr6E
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 18, 2024
