The three men known as the “kazakh trio”, which includes the controversial Patokh Chodiev, have benefited from political support for at least 20 years. This support mainly came from liberal French-speaking MPs. They helped the trio get Belgian passports, Le Soir reported on Saturday. The Division commissioner of Waterloo police said the police report that helped Chodiev get his first Belgian passport is falsified.
In Saturday’s article titled “Belgium, passport factory for the kazakh trio”, Le Soir revealed that oligarch Patokh Chodiev got his first passport thanks to a police report. This was before he became a Belgian citizen. The report is said to be by Division commissioner Michel Vandewalle, the head of the Waterloo police department. This is the commune Chodiev lives in.
The Waterloo police boss has admitted the report exists, but said it is falsified. “I’ve never met Mr Chodiev and I’ve never written a report like that about him”, Michel Vandewalle said. He added that professional secrecy did not allow him to say more.
(Source: Belga)
