Top lawyer Inez Weski has been remanded in court for two weeks following her arrest last Friday on suspicion of passing on messages from her client and gangland boss Ridouan Taghi.

Weski, who has been a practising lawyer for over 40 years, has now decided to step down from Taghi’s defence, Trouw reported on Monday afternoon.

She was arrested on Friday and her home and office were searched by police in search of evidence. They suspect her of leaking information from Taghi, who is being held in solitary confinement at the Vught high security prison and is only allowed contact with his lawyer.

Lawyers, in turn, are not allowed to pass on any information to third parties, even family members. Earlier this year, Taghi ‘s nephew and then lawyer was jailed for 5.5 years after judges ruled he had operated as a messanger between his uncle and the outside world.

Youseff T said during his trial he had no choice but to comply with his uncle’s demands.

Taghi is one of 17 defendants on trial in what has become known as the Marengo case, much of which hinges on a single crown witness,

Three people linked to the case have been murdered already: the brother of the crown witness, his lawyer Derk Wiersum and his confidant, television crime reporter Peter R de Vries.

Earlier in the hearings the public prosecution department accused several lawyers representing the defendants of passing on information but those claims later transpired to be false.