2023-11-03 08:07:00
With his guest, Maxime Binet returned to the issue of the attacks in Brussels on October 16 which took the lives of two Swedish football fans. The investigations which followed this terrorist act highlighted the loss of the extradition file for the attacker, Abdesalem Lassoued, by the Brussels prosecutor’s office. Vincent Van Quickenborne then resigned from his post as Minister of Justice, immediately replaced by Paul Van Tigchelt. This resignation is also welcomed by Michel Claise who believes that “it is a very strong gesture”.
What does the investigating judge think of this new Minister of Justice? “I don’t know him at all, and to have precession over someone you have to see him at work, so I think he has a few months left to first show what the difference is with his predecessor, and on the other hand, what will he offer in the coming months”.
Questioned on this file of failings by the prosecution, Michel Claise shares a calm vision: “What do I see? You have a floor that is boneless, but the extraditions service works well so we can consider one thing: it’s the fault of bad luck. These are things that can happen”
Maxime Binet also mentioned the appointment of the prosecutor general of Brussels. “We have a Superior Council of Justice which was created to avoid the politicization of justice, and this is an example of a complete failure” considers the investigating judge. “The problem is political in nature, in a place and an institution that should not have to decide like this.”
”No supply problem”
Further on in the show, Maxime Binet questioned Michel Claise on the mega Sky ECC trial and on the weakening, or not, of drug trafficking in Belgium. “From wiretaps we can determine what the price of cocaine is. 1 gram is 50 euros. You imagine that if we stop 100 tonnes, that means that there are 1000 tonnes passing through all of Europe. And the price of cocaine has not increased. Which therefore means that there is no supply problem” according to the investigating judge.
The latter goes even further into the financial impact of drug trafficking: “There is a global analysis that we have always refused to do almost everywhere, because I think it is scary. Imagine that there is a colossal fortune in criminal organizations which is, thanks to money laundering, taking possession of the economy, that seems obvious to me,” says Michel Claise.
Is Belgium more subject to mafias than before? “Yes, I think so,” replies Michel Claise. “The worsening of the phenomenon has taken on such proportions that we can no longer manage it, also due to lack of means. (…) With the proportion that this is taking, we can wonder if there will not be a return at some point of violence once morest people who practice this profession. I am extremely worried regarding the future. A parallel economy is devouring our licit economy. And I regret to say, that has never been taken into account by politics.”
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