The United States had “Watergate, the Belgians now have their Pipigate.” Our neighbors are rocked by a political affair involving the Minister of Justice. During Vincent Van Quickenborne’s drunken birthday party, which took place at his home on the night of August 14-15, 2023, three guests were filmed urinating in groups on a police car. Since then, the controversy has continued to grow. Here is the chronological summary of this case.
August 14th to 15th: Birthday party
The affair occurred on the night of August 14th and 15th. That evening, Vincent Van Quickenborne invites his friends to celebrate his 50th birthday at his home in Kortrijk in northern Belgium. Friends of the minister are present, as are political figures from the region. According to La Libre, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was also present. Three guests leave the house several times. The latter is under increased surveillance and a police car is parked nearby. That night the vehicle is empty. According to VRT, quoted by RTBF, the guests then urinated on the vehicle at 8:39 p.m., 10:05 p.m. and 12:02 a.m. And all of this is recorded by a video surveillance camera that was reinstalled for security reasons after threats were made to the minister.
August 23: an open investigation
After the police saw the surveillance video images, they decided to press charges. The latter leads to a contempt investigation, which is transferred to the neighboring Roeselare police zone. Several newspapers reported on this on August 23rd, including Het Nieuwsblad. The media, citing unnamed sources, also claim that the minister was aware of the scene.
The minister reacted quickly and claimed not to have seen the scene. He also asserts that he disapproves of these facts. If the police have made findings, they must be followed up, the Flemish Liberal added in a reaction from his office to AFP.
A police union, the SNPS, judges the facts as unworthy of an attorney general in a tongue-in-cheek press release titled “the Watergate Scandal.” He even goes so far as to call for the minister’s resignation. This is a strike against our police officers, a lack of respect for the women and men in uniform.
September 4: The affair recovers
On September 4, matters took a new turn. Because the video surveillance images also show the minister near the vehicle. According to VRT, he was seen leaving his house at 4 a.m. with one of his guests to wait for a taxi. On the tape, Van Quickenborne can be seen walking near the van, bending over as if he were urinating, and then laughing while looking at a cell phone with his friend. He then opens the combination door before closing it.
After the revelation of these new elements, the reactions follow each other. Our RTBF colleagues quote MP Nabil Boukili, member of the Belgian Workers’ Party. The minister leaned back to pretend to urinate, then looked at his phone and laughed before opening the combination door, he said. It is clear that Van Quickenborne lied about this incident, said Federal MP and Chairman of the House of Representatives Interior Committee Ortwin Depoortere, quoted by La Libre on August 4. “We want the video footage released immediately and Van Quickenborne to resign.”even asks Barbara Pas, a member of the right-wing extremist Vlaams Belang party.
Many hours passed between the last incident and the pictures showing the minister. The minister confirms that he opened the combination door, but only to lock it. The derivation of other gestures that he was aware of was an interpretation and refuted the office of the Minister of Justice.
September 5th: The minister comments on the images to the press
To defend himself, he even analyzes the images of the evening to analyze the sequence of events in front of the Belgian press. So on September 5, he returned to these images with several colleagues, including RTBF. What about his strange position near the van, around 4am? Some people come to the conclusion that I’m copying what others did seven hours earlier. “I’ll say it clearly: I didn’t know what happened,” responds Vincent Van Quickenborne. What’s hilarious about the sequence where we see him looking at a smartphone screen? If you look at what’s happening, it’s 3:59 a.m., click, I’m taking a photo of myself, a selfie, he says. The photo that is in his phone is evidence of this. Finally, why did you open the vehicle door? It wasn’t locked properly, he replied.
September 7th: an upcoming audition
From now on the matter takes a new turn: the minister must be accountable to Parliament. La Libre indicates that, at the request of the chairman of the committee, he will come to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives on Thursday, September 7, to explain the incident.