Michel Claise, the judge who led the investigation into Qatargate, will run as a candidate for the French-speaking liberal party DéFI in Belgian federal elections this summer.
Claise resigned from the Qatargate investigation in December due to incessant conflict-of-interest accusations. On Tuesday, DéFI leader François de Smet announced that the party has selected the former judge as its third candidate for the party's Chamber list. Claise will follow de Smet in first place and Sophie Rohonyi in second place – both are already serving as MPs in the Federal Government.
"This third place is a fighting position (but this is) a campaign where anything is possible," stated de Smet at the press conference on Tuesday.
Claise's remarkable career in the judiciary led him to specialise in financial crime, corruption, tax fraud and money laundering. On top of his investigation into Qatargate, he has been the figurehead of numerous high-profile cases in Belgium including the Panama Papers and SwissLeaks.
Getting tough on crime
Claise stated that a desire to contribute to society has pushed him into politics. "Social democracy is a value that we have achieved, but it is gradually being worn away," he explained.
Central to the seasoned judge's mission is a belief that Belgium's fight against organised crime must undergo a fundamental transformation. He expressed his frustration with putting the burden on law-abiding citizens to raise State funds whist criminals are free to make fortunes. "We obviously need to go into the pockets of criminal organisations to prevent them from proliferating," he told Le Soir in an interview.
With a reputation for being strong on corruption, after coming down hard on Eva Kailli in the Qatargate scandal, Claise is the perfect poster boy for DéFI's renewed emphasis on fighting crime.
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The centrist party is eager to emphasise its commitment to justice ahead of the elections in June. In tandem with his candidature announcement, Claise unveiled a 100-point "Marshall plan", which consists of establishing a Secretary of State for the fight against financial crime, a Belgian anti-corruption agency, and a national financial prosecutor's office.
Claise has also long supported creating these bodies and his "Marshall plan" would use funds procured from tax evasion fines to finance them.
