Kazakhgate is a well-known case that began as a conflict between two European states, which, thanks to media coverage, has gained international concern. However, the 16-month investigation, on which Belgium spent millions of euros, showed the true situation.
Keep reading to find out who was really behind the Kazakhgate scandal, how the international conflict turned out to be an internal political struggle and what does Patokh Chodiev have to do with it.
How it all began: Patokh Chodiev
Mining billionaire Patokh Chodiev is often described as the main figure in the Kazakhgate case. And although this assumption is fundamentally wrong, the scandal really began with a businessman. More precisely, with the accusation of the law enforcement bodies of Belgium that the citizenship, which Chodiev received back in the 90s was passed in violation of the rules. To these claims, accusations of influencing the Belgian Parliament in the adoption of a new guilty plea law were added.
It was assumed that France put pressure on Belgian deputies to help billionaire Chodiev. These were serious accusations on which in 2016 the parliament formed a special commission. After 16 months, the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PIC) submitted a final report of 500 pages.
According to an official document, Chodiev was not involved in the adoption of the law on a guilty plea and did not violate the procedure for obtaining Belgian citizenship.
Kazakhgate showed the true situation in the Belgian Parliament
After several years, it can be concluded that Kazakhgate was fully initiated by Belgian politicians. A multi-million euros investigation stated that the main allegations against Chodiev and France turned out to be merely distorted facts and events.
In support of this view, the La Libre newspaper published a publication stating that Belgian politicians began to spend more time on internal political wars and disagreements than on legislative work. The publication of the Belgian media is supported by other local newspapers, which claim that the fragmented policy of Belgium caused its conflict with France and Kazakhstan.
Belgium’s vice-prime minister, David Clarinval also spoke in this regard. In his opinion, Belgian politics not for the first time have used a similar method of getting even with objectionable colleagues. “This is not the first time that politicians have convened the creation of an independent commission to investigate the business they need. If the investigation found unsatisfactory results, then in their opinion the commission was also corrupt in a conspiracy with the government,”- told Clarinwal the local newspaper.
The general director of the Center for Social and Political Studies and Information, Jean Faniel, is sure that such investigations are just a method of popularizing one’s person. He suggested that legislative work does not bring as much fame as international scandals involving famous people.
Role of Patokh Chodiev in Kazakhgate
And although after the lapse of time it becomes clear that Patokh Chodiev turned out to be only collateral damage, the case of the Kazakhgate becomes clearer if you analyze it from the moment the billionaire was involved.
So, for example, only two-party leaders supported Chodiev’s involvement in the Kazakhgate case. These parties were the Green Party and the Socialist Party, which had long been preparing to shift influence in the Belgian parliament. According to experts, these two parties wanted to take away the influence from the ruling centrist parties N-VA, MR and CD&V, which were in the coalition in 2016, and were also a driving force in parliament to introduce a new law on the plea bargain in the 2011 year.
This opinion also confirms the investigation of Chodiev’s lawyer, Pascal Vanderveeren. According to it, the committee constantly received confidential data that confirmed the involvement of Belgian deputies in the Kazakhgate case.
Today it can be concluded that the mining billionaire was just a collateral damage in the domestic political struggle. And although the commission found all the charges against businessman to be false and unfounded, Chodiev’s lawyer is sure that the Belgian deputies caused serious economic and moral damage to his client.
Source – komentariy.net
