Eric Van de Weghe is a character that keeps popping-up in the so-called “Kazakhgate affair” in Belgium. He was first mentioned in the context of Patokh Chodiev’s naturalization – the head of the Belgian intelligence made clear that the documents incriminating Chodiev were forgeries created by Van de Weghe. He reappeared when Armand De Decker… Continue reading
Open source investigations
The so-called Kazakhgate inquiry commission in the Belgian Parliament is about to conclude its workings. The parties forming the majority apparently wish to make the commission stop until 21 July at the very latest. What have we found so far? According to Dirk Van der Maelen, the commission’s president, what we found is very different… Continue reading
The Belgian news magazine Le Vif has recently published a copy of Patokh Chodiev’s settlement with the prosecutors in Brussels. (See here for more details: http://www.levif.be/actualite/belgique/transaction-ce-que-les-kazakhs-ont-reellement-paye/article-normal-681331.html.) The document puts the entire Kazakhgate affair in a completely new light. After its publication, the inquiry commission and some parts of the media need some serious soul searching…. Continue reading
In the so-called Kazakhgate commission, Dirk Van der Maelen, the Flemish socialist (SP.A) president of the commission, and Georges Gilkinet, its Green (Ecolo) vice-president, are doing everything they can to turn the inquiry into a mockery, because of their own political agendas. At the same time, the big questions remain unanswered. Repeated hearings on… Continue reading
Georges Gilkinet, the Belgian MP from the Green Party (Ecolo) and the “star” of the so-called Kazakhgate commission, is a man of unpalatable convictions. In late 2009, for instance, he drafted a law that would have forced the banks to publish each year the names of their clients. He didn’t care that such a law,… Continue reading
On 18 July 2016, thousands of people gathered in Buenos Aires to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA). Holding up pictures of the 85 people who died in Argentina’s deadliest terror attack ever, they were calling for those responsible, including former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar… Continue reading
Recently, the Inquiry Commission of the Belgian Parliament regarding the extension of the criminal transaction in 2011 summoned Jan Jambon, an MP from the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), who was questioned on several issues considered relevant for the investigation. Mr. Jambon declared, among other things, that in the early 2011 there was no pressure from… Continue reading
The former CEO of AWDC, Freddy Hanard was heard by the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on 23 March 2017. As revealed by OSI, he chose to mock and defy the Belgian MPs. And in some ways he was wright. Freddy Hanard was the CEO of the AWDC from May 2006 to December 2010. He was running… Continue reading
Eubelius, the largest law firm in Belgium, presents itself as the country’s lawmaker. Well, the advert is correct. Raf Verstraeten was a senior partner in Eubelius when he wrote and lobbied for the settlement law. He was still a Eubelius lawyer when he used the law for the benefit of his clients in the diamond… Continue reading
When on 22 March this year the Kazakhgate commission in the Belgian Parliament questioned the former CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), Freddy Hanard, it was very shy. No powerful questions were asked. It was as if the members of the commission were afraid to reveal too much of the truth, namely that… Continue reading
