Open VLD chairman Egbert Lachaert does not want to go into detail about the new allegations that have been leaked about Flemish Member of Parliament Sihame El Kaouakibi. ‘This must be assessed by a judge, then we can draw the necessary consequences,’ he says.
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Lachaert points out To the point on that the politician is currently through the party suspended is just to be able to make its own defense. He emphasizes that Open VLD itself has no connection with Let’s Go Urban, the organization with which the disputed invoices of El Kaouakibi can be associated. Although she is an agent for the party. “You have to separate the two a bit,” said the party chairman.
He calls the new allegations ‘annoying’, and Lachaert also says that since it concerns allegations of fraud with subsidies and public money ‘that is all the more sensitive for a liberal’. ‘But it bothers me that this trial is being conducted in the media. That must be assessed by a judge, and then we will then draw the necessary consequences. ‘
The city of Antwerp suspects forgery. El Kaouakibi is said to have paid for investments in its Jacob Jorda house event location with subsidy money. On Sunday, El Kaouakibi said she hopes her case will be heard quickly by the judge. “Perception seems more important than truth,” she says.
Johan Vande Lanotte, who did a counter-analysis of the report against El Kaouakibi, only wants to respond to the newly leaked data later this week. In his first analysis, he came to the conclusion that the bookkeeping was a mess, but that El Kaouakibi did not enrich himself personally.
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