Frédéric Van Leeuw, the motor of serious crime investigation
The federal prosecutor’s office dealt a blow to international drug crime in Brussels last week. The motor behind that investigation is federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw (48).
Investigators carried out 114 house searches this week, arrested 64 suspects and rounded up 6 drug labs, mainly in Brussels. It was the largest action in our country since cyber specialists rolled up the encrypted telephone network Sky ECC in March. The squat provides the courts with a wealth of information for research into drug trafficking in Belgium.
Federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw (48) heads the public prosecutor’s office that investigates the most serious criminals, from terrorism and people smuggling to organized drug crime. Van Leeuw does not do the work alone, of course, but design as a lever. He decides what the federal prosecutor’s office is aiming for.
The essence
- Juvenile magistrate. Frédéric Van Leeuw started his career at the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. There he was a juvenile magistrate. He carried out the investigation into the death of Joe Van Holsbeeck, a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Brussels Central.
- Unique: Van Leeuw is regarded as a unique figure in the judicial world. He fights crime, but at the same time has an eye for the people behind the facts. In his scarce free time, he has been volunteering for years in a social restaurant in Brussels.
- Attention: When Van Leeuw was in charge of the federal park for a year, suicide bombers committed bomb attacks on Brussels Airport and the Brussels metro. The prosecutor took the time to talk to their story, and listen to the stories of families of Syrian fighters.
For example, he relaunched the investigation into the Bende van Nijvel and strongly focused on research into social fraud and the fight against black money, such as in Operation Zero, which investigates money laundering practices in Belgian professional football. A priority, he believes, because ‘black money makes the whole system rotten’. Van Leeuw mainly motivates his investigators and magistrates by setting an example himself and by committing himself 100 percent. On vacation, his phone is always on.
Juvenile Magistrate
The son of two teachers grew up in the Brussels municipality of Ganshoren. He completed his law studies at the Catholic University of Brussels in 1997. After a few years in the legal profession, he started working as a deputy at the Brussels public prosecutor’s office in 2002. As a juvenile magistrate, he then investigates the Joe Van Holsbeeck file, the 17 boy who was stabbed to death by minors in Central, and uses investigations into African youth gangs in the capital.
He can put on different glasses. He is human and understanding, but also firm and decisive, depending on the situation.
In 2007, Van Leeuw transferred to the federal prosecutor’s office, where he became head in 2015. He had been a prosecutor for just one year in 2016 when suicide bombers carried out attacks in Brussels on March 22. The general public became acquainted with a controlled Van Leeuw, who sat next to then Prime Minister Charles Michel (MR) during the effects of explosions in the departure hall of Brussels Airport and in the Maelbeek.
In the years that followed, the focus of the federal prosecutor’s office was on terror files. The result: 464 terrorists righteous in five years. But Van Leeuw wants to do more than just catch terrorists. He insisted that justice paid enough attention to documents and again set the example. He has started talking to affected, their short, but also has emerged from young men and women who have started to leave for Syria. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to.
Van Leeuw tries to understand the motives of Syrian fighters. ‘Those young people did not leave if they felt at home here’, he recently said in an interview with De Standaard.
Unique
Van Leeuw, father of three adopted children, becomes like a man who can flawlessly combine the profile of a crime fighter with a sociable side. A unique combination, according to colleagues. Ine Van Wymersch, the attorney general of the Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor, worked closely with him in the period after the attacks. At the time, she was a magistrate in Brussels and was seconded to the federal prosecutor’s office. “He can put on different glasses,” she says. ‘He is human and understanding, but also firm and decisive, the situation.’
No one understands how he does it, but Van Leeuw has been finding time in between work for decades to do voluntary work in a social restaurant in Brussels.
‘That’s how he is: he can indicate that we do not tolerate something and at the same time have an eye for where crime comes. He looks for the nuances and makes a strong case for polarizing. It’s good that he shows others that this is possible.’
Nobody understands how he does it, but Van Leeuw has found time to do voluntary work in between work for decades. Through the community of Sant’Egidio, he distributes food in a social restaurant in Brussels. He never wanted to make public where that restaurant is. In part, that’s a security issue. Van Leeuw has been receiving security for years.