During the past year no fewer than three corruption cases have come to light in the past year at the NATO’s Luxembourg-based procurement agency NSPA. Journalists from Knack, Le Soir, Follow the Money and La Lettre revealed the corruption. Three Belgians that work at NSPA are allegedly involved in one of the corruption cases.
Central to the case is the Luxembourg-based NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). NAPA employees 1,500 people and this year will handle procurement contracts worth 10 billion euro this year.
In one of the three corruption cases, the federal public prosecutor's office arrested three people in Belgium in May. The Knack journalist who helped uncover the story Kristof Clerix says that one of them is 60-year-old ammunition specialist from Bredene. "That man used to work for the NATO agency himself, but then set up his own consultancy firms. There are also two other Belgians who are under suspicion. All three were colleagues."
According to the investigation, the three may have passed on confidential information to defence companies seeking to secure lucrative contracts with NATO. In this case, the contracts relate to aircraft, helicopters, fuel and ammunition for the period between 2021 and 2025.
Information leaked?
Kristof Clerix goes on to explain “Suppose you are a defence company and you want to sell to several NATO countries at the same time. In that case it is best to work via the Luxembourg agency. But if you do so you have to comply with all kinds of regulations, and this is quite complex”.
Defence companies sometimes call on the services of a consultancy firm. “They help with the tender and that's fine, but if that consultancy firm is able obtain inside information, there is no longer a level playing field. This is what is currently under investigation: was confidential information leaked in Luxembourg? And did Belgians play a role in this?”
One of the three suspects is still in custody, a second has been electronically tagged, the third suspect has been granted conditional bail.
Kristof Clerix says that " When we asked the US Department of Justice why this is the case our emails remained unanswered. We then approached former employees of the department. They confirm that this is very strange. According to them, it is clearly a case of political interference."
Painful for NATO
Once the US Justice Department had become aware of the journalists’ investigation, it came to a standstill. “Is this interference? By whom? Why? Does President Trump consider the fight against corruption less of a priority? Or is there something else at play? This is still unclear.”
The fact remains that the corruption scandals are coming to light at a time when NATO countries are increasing their defence spending.
“We are going to spend billions on bombs and grenades. So, it is crucial that taxpayers' money is spent correctly. If the central agency within NATO that is responsible for all these purchases is in the eye of the storm, that is particularly unfortunate for NATO”, Kristof Clerix said.