(Newswire.net — June 30, 2020) — The Kazakhgate commission of inquiry had a lot of work to do. It has had a lot to untangle, balls of Franco-Belgian wool, going from Elysees to the commune of Uccle.
French investigators have compiled a thick file in which there is no shortage of pieces. Among these, there are two e-mails sent by Jean-Francois Etienne des Rosaies, ex-prefect and former project manager with Nicolas Sarkozy.
According to these e-mails, France has influenced Belgian ministers in passing an expanded guilty plea law that helped close the case of Kazakh businessmen. In turn, France received a lucrative contract for helicopters. Whether everything is so obvious here? Let’s find out this in today’s article.
French-Belgian relations and Patokh Chodiev
The first mentions of the Kazakhgate scandal began back in 2012, but in order to fully understand all the details, there is a need to go back even further – in the mid-1990s.
As this case began with the Belgian law enforcement agencies accusing Patokh Chodiev and his partners of financial fraud in real estate. However, the more Belgian authorities got into this case, the more it became controversial. As a result, the investigation of the case took 15 years. And was finally closed in 2011 after Belgium passed an expanded guilty plea law through which Kazakh businessman paid 20 million euros in exchange for the removal of charges without any recognition.
And this is where the e-mails come into play. According to the media, Nursultan Nazarbayev had asked Nicolas Sarkozy to conclude a lengthy Belgian investigation against billionaire Patokh Chodiev. In return, Chodiev would have assisted in the sale of helicopters and satellites in the amount of 2 billion euros.
The e-mails and Kazakhgate investigation
Therefore, Belgium initiated an investigation in order to find out whether France really influenced the adoption of the law to help the Kazakh businessman. The main evidence against France were the letters of advisor to the former president, Jean-Francois Etienne des Rosaies in which he told that he had managed to influence the Minister of Justice of Belgium in the matter of the case against Chodiev. He claimed that besides the Minister, he also held talks with Belgian Senator Arman de Decker, who agreed to the terms of the French government.
These e-mails formed the basis of the so-called Kazakhgate scandal and also caused deterioration of relations between Belgium and France.
Kasakhgate: Case of Patokh Chodiev
In December 2016 the Belgian parliament launched an investigation into the allegations. According to official figures, 15 members of parliament were involved in the investigation, and over 16 months of the procedure they heard 177 witnesses, whose testimonies were presented in a 500-page report.
The inquiry stated the guilty plea had nothing to do with the French side and the Chodiev case, in particular.
It has been confirmed that the French side only introduced Chodiev to lawyer Catherine Degoul, who led the case. And Degoul hired Senator De Decker without the knowledge or consent of Сhodiev.
Later it also has been discovered that De Decker had contacted Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck about Chodiev’s case, but his appeal was rejected because the Minister did not interfere in such cases.
In addition, the claims of des Rosaies were also contradicted by the statements of the Ministers of Justice, Finance and Foreign Affairs.
Patrick de Wolfe of the Brussels Court of Appeal stated that the guilty plea law had nothing to do with Chodiev’s case. And later, the PIC stated that there was no undue influence on the adoption of the law, which had been discussed many years before its adoption.
Bragging of Jean-Francois Etienne des Rosaies
As it turned out, there were no other grounds for the strained relations between the two countries, except for the e-mails des Rosaies. According to former colleagues of Jean-Francois, des Rosaies tried to attract public attention to his person and gain international acceptance and social status.
It seems that des Rosaies, who made a vibrant career as an assistant in the administration of Nicolas Sarkozy, did what diplomats should avoid: he caused an international scandal, exaggerating greatly and distorting the facts and events.