BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 20 - The Belgian investigating judge Michel Claise who leads the Qatargate investigation has opposed the request for recusal against him.
This was announced by the newspaper Le Soir, citing sources from the federal prosecutor's office.
Marc Tarabella's lawyer had requested Claise's recusal on Thursday on the basis that the magistrate would be "biased" towards the MEP.
According to Belgian law, the federal prosecutor will now have to appeal to the Brussels Court of Appeal which will have eight days to decide whether or not to remove the investigating judge from his case.