BRUSSELS (AFP) — Belgium was mired in fresh political crisis Friday as Prime Minister Yves Leterme reeled from allegations that aides tried to persuade justice officials not to interfere with a major bank breakup.
As the cabinet met in emergency session overnight sources fed journalists with a swirl of so-far unconfirmed rumours that either Leterme, the justice minister or the finance minister would resign, while government and justice officials traded accusations over an affair now dubbed "Fortisgate".
"We have rarely seen anything like this in any country. The pillars of democratic power are accusing each other, almost mutually," Deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelynx told reporters.
"Those who have done wrong must clearly take their responsibilities," she said.
The government is locked in a complex legal battle with minority shareholders of the banking and insurance group Fortis over the sale of its Belgian assets to French bank BNP Paribas.
A week ago, the shareholders won an appeal against the breakup, and Leterme's office stands accused of trying to influence the court's decision, a charge which he has denied.
The affair is yet another millstone around his neck.
Leterme struggled three times to form a government following elections in June 2007, as the northern region of Flanders insisted that any new cabinet should start handing over more federal powers to its three regions.
Despite this battle, he appeared the only man with the necessary political clout to succeed, especially after King Albert II refused his resignation in July even though he had failed to move forward the "community dialogue".
Yet, ironically, the 48-year-old Flemish Christian Democrat may now have been done more severe damage by the dismantling of Fortis bank, previously seen as the one act that had brought his government some lustre.
"Yves Leterme had already failed utterly with the community dialogue. Now he's being attacked over the one dossier that helped to make him look good: the crash at Fortis," the daily Libre Belgique said in an editorial.
Fortis group was hastily dismantled in October as the global financial crisis bit, with the Dutch state taking over its Dutch banking and insurance assets and the Belgian government taking over its Belgian banking business.
And in a bid to secure the long-term viability of Fortis and the Belgian banking system, the government also orchestrated the sale of most of the group's Belgian assets to BNP Paribas.
But in the case brought by Fortis' minority shareholders, a Brussels appeal court ruled on December 12 that they should have been consulted on the break-up.
Since then, opposition parties have called for a confidence vote in the government after Leterme conceded that there had been "contacts" with justice officials.
The speaker of parliament rejected the calls Thursday, but in a new twist a senior judge -- supreme court president Ghislain Londers -- sent him a letter which appeared to condemn Leterme's government.
"Everything was done so that the ruling of the ... Court of Appeal would not be given" on the Fortis breakup, it said.
Yet as reporters gathered outside Leterme's offices overnight expecting him to resign over the affair, an aide handed out a report by the prosecutor at the appeal court denouncing irregularities in the tribunal's Fortis ruling.
The report claimed the judge had not respected procedures, placing the judges themselves under the spotlight, and handing Leterme -- the man Belgium has been unable to replace -- a new life-line.
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