Belgium opens criminal probe into suspected Chinese spy

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Belgian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into a Flemish far-right politician who was for years used as a Chinese intelligence asset.

Frank Creyelman, a former member of the far-right Vlaams Belang party, carried out tasks on behalf of Chinese spies for more than three years, according to an investigation by the Financial Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde published in December.

Authorities had been aware of the allegations but were unable to prosecute Creyelman and other suspects as espionage and foreign interference are not considered criminal offences in Belgium.

However, Belgian justice minister Paul Van Tigchelt on Wednesday said that the case had been handed over to the federal prosecutor by the federal police office’s anti-corruption unit.

“The federal prosecutor’s office has effectively opened an investigation,” Eric Van Duyse, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor, confirmed, but declined to give further details.

As espionage and foreign interference are not considered crimes under Belgium’s penal code which dates back to 1867, authorities often prosecute similar cases on corruption charges if the evidence supports it, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Van Tigchelt said a report regarding the Creyelman case was drawn up by the police’s Central Office for the Suppression of Corruption in December, and then sent to the prosecutor.

Belgian authorities have been under immense pressure to address the allegations of foreign interference, as authorities were aware of Creyelman and other politicians’ potential ties to China in 2018, but could not prosecute the case at the time.

Text messages seen by the FT showed that Daniel Woo, an officer in China’s ministry of state security spy agency, directed Creyelman to influence discussions in Europe on issues ranging from China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong to its persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

“China uses a whole series of overt and covert influence techniques that fall into a grey area between lobbying, interference, political influence and espionage, economic blackmail and disinformation campaigns, between which there are often no clear boundaries,” Van Tigchelt told the parliament’s justice committee.

He added that politicians were “the targets of choice for the Chinese influence and interference machine”.

Creyelman, a member of Belgium’s far-right Flemish nationalist movement since 1977, served in the federal Senate from 1999 to 2007 and then as a member of the Flemish parliament until 2014. He represented the Vlaams Belang party in Mechelen, his local city, until being stripped of his party affiliation following the revelations.

Creyelman did not respond to requests for comment about Belgium’s investigation and has not responded to questions regarding the allegations. Chinese authorities have denied knowledge of the case.

Belgium’s federal parliament is due to vote on a reform of the penal code in the coming weeks, which is expected to pass. Van Tigchelt said he had asked for the articles regarding espionage and foreign interference to come into force “immediately”.