The Agusta scandal (french: Affaire Agusta, nl, Agustaschandaal), alternatively known as the Agusta–Dassault Case, was a major

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, uneth ...

which occurred in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

during the 1990s, based on allegations that two multinational companies had used bribery to secure large defence procurement contracts. The companies in question, Agusta and

Dassault Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Ser ...

, bribed numerous political office-holders in 1988 in order to secure a large order of

Agusta A109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...

helicopters and the contract for re-fitting Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets respectively. The scandal came to light during investigations into the death of the socialist politician

André Cools André H.P. Cools (1 August 1927 – 18 July 1991) was a Belgian politician and a senior figure within the Walloon Socialist Party (PS) in the Liège region. He was assassinated in 1991 and the subsequent investigation uncovered widespread graft ...

in 1991 and an official enquiry was opened in 1993. Numerous senior figures in both Walloon and Flemish socialist parties were implicated, including the incumbent

Secretary General of NATO The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff ...

Willy Claes who was forced to resign. The Agusta scandal was the first of a series of highly publicised scandals in Belgium. It was followed by the revelations about the " Hormone Mafia", the Dioxin affair, and the Dutroux affair.

History

Investigation and exposure

The investigation into the purchase was started by the investigative team looking into the 1991 assassination of

, a politician of the Francophone '' Parti Socialiste'' (PS) and former

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

, when it turned out that Cools had knowledge about the Agusta deal. An official investigation into the deal was started in January 1993, by judge Véronique Ancia, when a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

was issued for Agusta and its lobbyist Georges Cywie. In January 1994, the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parli ...

removed the immunity on the Minister-President of Wallonia, Guy Spitaels, and the minister , both from the PS, and members of the

Walloon Government The Walloon Government (french: Gouvernement wallon) or Government of Wallonia (french: Gouvernement de Wallonie) is the executive branch of Wallonia, and it is part of one of the six main governments of Belgium. It sits in Namur, where the Parli ...

Guy Coëme Guy Coëme (born 21 August 1946) is a Francophone Belgian politician for the Socialist Party (PS). He served as 5th Minister-President of Wallonia from February to May 1988. Coëme served as minister of defence in the government Martens VIII an ...

, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transportation for the PS resigned that same month.

Frank Vandenbroucke Frank Vandenbroucke is the name of: *Frank Vandenbroucke (politician) (born 1955), Belgian politician *Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist) Frank Vandenbroucke (6 November 1974 – 12 October 2009) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. After ...

, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Government for the Flemish '' Socialistische Partij'' (SP), resigned from his post in March 1994. Willy Claes, member of the SP and

, resigned on 20 October 1995.

Prosecution

A criminal trial was handled by the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

, which is responsible for cases involving minister in function. The public prosecutor was . The court had most of its verdicts ready on 23 December 1998. Willy Claes received a three-year probationary sentence and a five-year prohibition on running for public office. Guy Coëme and Guy Spitaels both received three-year probationary sentences with a five-year prohibition on running for public office.

Serge Dassault Serge Dassault (; born Serge Paul André Bloch; 4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018) was a French engineer, businessman and politician. He was the chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Group, and a conservative politician. According to ' ...

, of the Dassault company, received an 18-month probationary sentence for bribery. In total, Agusta and Dassault paid more than 160 million

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

(about 4 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s) to the ''Parti Socialiste'' and ''Socialistische Partij'' in bribes.

Verdicts

The ''Parti Socialiste'' had to return 49 million francs in bribes, the ''Socialistische Partij'' 111 million francs. Claes, Coëme, Delanghe, Hermanus, Mangé, Puelinckx, Spitaels and Wallyn were also barred from running for political office, or working in the civil service, for five years.

European Court of Human Rights

After the verdicts were handed down, many of the convicted parties applied to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

(ECHR) to get the verdicts revoked, because the

in Belgium does not allow for an appeal process, which would have been in violation of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

. On 2 June 2005, the ECHR judged that in the case of the two ministers, Willy Claes and Guy Coëme, both men were given a lawful trial at the Court of Cassation. The trial of the five others who applied to the ECHR, Dassault, Hermanus, Delanghe, Puelinckx and Wallyn, at the Court of Cassation, was found to have contravened the European Convention on Human Rights, but their verdicts would stand nonetheless.

External links

ECHR judgment
{{AgustaWestland aircraft, state=collapsed Agusta Dassault Group Political scandals in Belgium Bribery scandals Corruption in Europe Criminal investigation Military scandals 1990s in Belgium Weapons trade Trials in Belgium Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights cases involving Belgium 1988 controversies 1993 controversies 1994 controversies 1995 controversies 1998 crimes in Belgium 20th-century scandals Corruption in Belgium