The letter that State Security sent to the Flemish Parliament about Filip Dewinter (Vlaams Belang) contains a timing of his contacts with Chinese people, but no smoking gun. This can be heard from members of the deontological committee. “Let the complaint be declared admissible, I have nothing to hide,” Dewinter responds.
At the end of last year, Green faction leader Mieke Schauvliege filed a complaint with the deontological committee of the Flemish Parliament about Filip Dewinter and his alleged contacts with the Chinese spy Shao Changchun. A State Security report about the ties between the two was leaked in 2018, but at that time there appeared to be no criminal offenses. However, a new note from the security services now shows that Dewinter obtained 10,000 face masks via Changchun in 2020. The Flemish Belanger himself denies this.
At the first meeting of the ethics committee, it was not yet decided whether the file would be declared admissible. Information was first requested from State Security.
He has now sent a concise letter to chairman Liesbeth Homans. According to members of the committee, the letter mainly mentions timing, but nothing about financial transactions, for example. The document would be sufficient to declare the complaint admissible. The members then hope to be able to view the complete file at State Security.
“I will go to the hearing tomorrow and then we will see,” says Dewinter. “The carousel continues to turn, as intended, and I am the victim of that. People will try again to postpone it and thus get as close to the elections as possible.”
The Flemish Belanger says he has nothing to hide. “Let the complaint be declared admissible,” he says. “It doesn’t keep me awake at night.”