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
Open source investigations
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
Kazakhgate is the name of a widespread story in the Belgian media, according to which a change in the Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure happened because of some negotiations between the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his counterpart in Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. More specifically, Nazarbayev agreed to buy some 40 helicopters from France only… 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. The amendment came… Continue reading
On 10 June 2011, Société Générale entered a transaction with the Public Prosecutors in Anvers, Belgium. The French giant agreed to pay 40 million euros; in exchange, the Public Prosecutors dropped all charges against the bank, who thus kept its record clean. OSI proved in a previous piece that this was the first such transaction… Continue reading
The Belgian media claims that Patokh Chodiev, a London-based Uzbek oligarch with Belgian citizenship, is the one who changed the Belgian criminal law because he was the first to benefit from the changes. OSI is now in a position to prove that, in fact, the first beneficiary of the change was the French colossus Société… Continue reading
