Suite to the twelve searches carried out last week by the justice of Mons in the context of a case for embezzlement of subsidies, corruption and taking of interests, indictments have been made.
To resituate: the vzw Arthur Regniers de Lobbes has rented a castle in the south of France from the vzw Vestrict for almost 40 years. “The castle applied excessive rent, excessive operating costs and did not always respect the rules in terms of supervision and social inspection”, explained the deputy prosecutor. Let’s add that the director of the center and the owner of the castle in question were the same person… and that all the bills were paid by the Province of Hainaut!
We knew that several people had been deprived of their freedom, but according to RTBF, the director of the Arthur Regniers center and owner of the castle in France, Baron Jean-Marie Bogaert (83, ex-alderman MR de Lobbes), has was arrested and placed under arrest warrant. It is the agreements he has concluded with the Province, for 40 years, which raise questions, but during the search the investigators also discovered “suspicious financial flows”, still according to RTBF. Arrested on June 1 at his home, Jean-Marie Bogaerts saw his arrest warrant extended on June 7, the courts considering at this stage that his conditional release would risk compromising the investigation (risks of collusion or new financial movements).
If he fiercely denies through his lawyer any embezzlement, the baron also appealed the decision to continue in detention, still informs RTBF.
The MR, for its part, decided to suspend the former local elected official of the party pending the results of the investigation.