Criminal lawyer Pol Vandemeulebroucke has taken a hard line against the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office and the examining magistrate. They are said to have fabricated a large drug and money laundering investigation against his client Serge Muller in order to cover the theft of a large pink diamond “worth 4 million dollars“.
Qttorney Pol Vandemeulebroucke spoke during the trial against the Antwerp businessmen Serge Muller, Tony Gram and Bruno Melotte. They are being prosecuted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for membership of a criminal organization and money laundering. Vandemeulebroucke is the counsel of arms and diamond dealer Serge Muller.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Muller is a kind of international gangster who allegedly supplied arms to the Colombian rebel movement FARC. They would have paid Muller with cocaine. That cocaine would then have been smuggled to Europe via airplanes and sailing ships. The proceeds of the multimillion dollar scam would then have been laundered by an international network of companies. The prosecution admits that there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that weapons were paid for with drugs, yet the suspects are being prosecuted for money laundering.
Bazooka
Vandemeulebroucke brought out his bazooka, which he aimed mainly at the examining magistrate, who only wanted to hang the scalp of Serge Muller and Tony Gram on his belt. According to Vandemeulebroucke, the examining magistrate travelled halfway around the world to investigate the “most insane stories”. “The examining magistrate destroyed the lives of my client and his family with all his stories about drugs and weapon deliveries to the FARC. Nothing of all those stories turns out to be left over after all”.
For Vandemeulebroucke, it is also clear why Serge Muller, Tony Gram and Bruno Melotte have been haunted in this case for years. Justice seized an exclusive pink diamond during an investigation against Melotte. When Melotte was acquitted, the diamond had to return to its owner: Rex Diamonds by Serge Muller.
The pink diamond did not return because a new investigation against Muller and Melotte was opened. “The 4 million dollar diamond cannot be returned because it was stolen by someone in the justice department. We can prove that with documents from the file,” says Vandemeulebroucke. “The pink diamond suddenly turns out to be a white diamond, according to an expert of the Hoge Raad voor Diamant. How is that possible?”
Acquittal requested
Vandemeulebroucke was not only devastating for the examining magistrate, the public prosecutor also got criticized. “If it turns out that you were wrong, be brave and admit your mistake. And don’t continue to prosecute these people just because you want to catch two wealthy businessmen. In this case, lives were wrongfully destroyed. It’s time to restore the balance. The magistrates who caused this destruction must be sanctioned for it. I therefore ask for my client’s acquittal.“
