Lawyer Van Steenbrugge banned from prosecution

The prosecution wanted to prosecute them for membership in a criminal organization. A total of 23 suspects were referred to the Bruges correctional court.

The investigation started on the basis of information about a well-known figure in the West Flemish drug environment. It concerns a man who was already convicted in 2017 for his part in a cannabis plantation in Ledegem. The investigators eventually got their sights on a man in his fifties from Ostend as a possible pivotal figure.

In the judicial investigation into the production and export of narcotics, the West Flemish federal judicial police carried out a series of house searches on 8 September 2020. A large lab for the production of synthetic drugs was indeed rolled up on a farm in Lendelede. Up to two tons of amphetamines could be produced in an old pigsty. According to the prosecutor’s office, dangerous chemicals were also present.

Master Walter Van Steenbrugge acted as a suspect’s lawyer in the file. In his role as counsel, he would have gone beyond his means. That is why the prosecution wanted to prosecute him for membership of a criminal organization. For the contacts with the same client, Master Nancy Vanhee was also suspected of this.

The case came before the council chamber for the first time on Friday 12 August, but was then postponed at the request of Van Steenbrugge’s defence. After a session of almost two hours, the court decided to suspend the prosecution of both lawyers. “I have given my client 100 percent correct and professional advice,” responded master Van Steenbrugge after the hearing. “The council chamber does not even think it is worth taking me before a judge.”