In a recent interview in the Belgian magazine HUMO, the president of the so-called Kazakhgate commission, Dirk Van der Maelen (sp.a), said that “the text we voted on March 2, 2011, was not from Carina Van Cauter. It was a copy of the bill of Servais Verherstraeten (CD&V). We have now discovered during the inquiry… Continue reading
It has taken Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry Commission four months to discover the obvious: the enlargement of the criminal settlement law was drafted by the Antwerp diamond lobby in 2009. On 10 April 2017, Dirk Van der Maelen, the president of the commission, bragged in an interview: “We have now discovered in the inquiry that the Verherstraeten… Continue reading
The recent events developing in Syria have yet again left the world in shock, reminding us that the drums of war have not gone silent yet. In order to understand what has transpired in the last couple of days, we first have to realize that the truth is somewhere in the middle, with both of… Continue reading
Judicial documents seen by OSI reveal that Belgian investigators asked for assistance from South African authorities in a criminal inquiry against Omega Diamonds and Sylvain Goldberg. In October 2008, during the search and seizure operation at Omega’s offices in Antwerp, Belgian authorities discovered documents related to a South African company. A magistrate in Antwerp submitted… Continue reading
OSI offered ample evidence that the law voted on 14 April 2011 in the Belgian Parliament amending the Code of Criminal procedure by allowing prosecuted individuals and companies to enter into transactions with the Public Prosecutor to terminate the public prosecution of offences – the so-called “extended criminal transaction” – was in fact drafted and… Continue reading
„I made a commitment to the Zimbabwean minister of Mines to help lift the European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and I worked extremely hard to keep these promises”. As strange as it may seem, it was not a government official or a politician who made that statement. It was Antwerp World Diamond… Continue reading
Seen by mostly everyone as one of the countries that would join the European Union in the next rounds of invitations, the Republic of Turkey has underwent some drastic changes in the last year, both socially and politically. From the massive migration wave caused by the Syrian Civil War – that has brought more than… Continue reading
The 2011 extension of the scope of criminal transaction was not the first bill meant to resolve Antwerp diamond industry’s legal issues. It was not the first draft law created by the diamond lobby, written by AWDC’s lawyers, introduced by Servais Verherstraeten, and endorsed by the informal group of Belgian MPs serving the interests of… Continue reading
On 14 April 2011, the Belgian Parliament voted a law that amended the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the law, it became possible as from 16 May 2011 to enter into transactions with the Public Prosecutor to terminate the public prosecution of offences at all the stages of a criminal procedure. Two months later,… Continue reading
