Will Khalid Kasem’s own words finally kill him? According to journalist Lars Duursma, it could be that he is a little too loose-lipped about Ridouan Taghi in the infamous AD tapes…
There is a blanket of darkness surrounding Khalid Kasem, especially now that the presenter of Khalid & Sophie has immediately stopped his TV work after some audio recordings surfaced via AD. In this letter, the former lawyer admits to having accepted 8,000 euros in cash from a client to bribe a civil servant. Extremely reprehensible.
Conversations about Taghi
It is not the first time that there has been a commotion surrounding Khalid: the AD reported in 2020 that he may information has leaked to top criminal Ridouan Taghi. A gang member spoke in an encrypted message about ‘Mussa’s brother’, and one of Khalid’s brothers is called Musa. Moreover, Khalid and Taghi were in class together for years in primary school.
Enough evidence was never found for Khalid’s alleged leaking, but he was not exonerated. The big question, however, is: will the leaked audio recordings still kill him? “It is quite likely that conversations have been recorded that are also about Taghi,” says communications expert Lars Duursma in the podcast The Communicados.
Triangle relationship
It’s a strange thing, says Lars. “I think one of the most fascinating parts of this case is the triangular relationship between Peter R. de Vries, Khalid Kasem and Ridouan Taghi. Khalid was suspected of leaking sensitive matters to Taghi and Peter R. de Vries was the confidant of the key witnesses in the trial against Taghi.”
Khalid, Peter and his son Royce de Vries ran a law firm together. Lars: “Well, what’s going on here? On May 28, 2020, Jan Meeus and Wouter Laumans released all kinds of decrypted messages in NRC Handelsblad, including: ‘I just spoke to the man who helps Devil. Mussa’s brother.’”
One day later
This decrypted message from a gang member is said to be about Khalid. “And a day later, Peter R. de Vries resigned from the law firm. He said on Twitter: ‘My job is done. It’s time for a new phase.’ (…) I took a look at Royce’s book, because it is a logbook by Peter R. about this period, and there is nothing about it at all.”
Perhaps we will still find out what happened through the AD tapes, says Lars. “We now know that Peter R. recorded important conversations. And a conversation following this publication, a conversation that ultimately led to resigning from the partnership, seems to me to be exactly such an important conversation. And the question is, does the AD also have that conversation?”
Does Khalid give in?
That tape would turn everything upside down, Lars explains. “Then that could have a serious impact on Khalid, because look, the dean and the Public Prosecution Service found no supporting evidence. But what if he himself admits on tape that he leaked? Or what if an image emerges from that tape that he is or was much closer to Taghi than the image he paints in the media?”
It would be particularly painful, because Peter R. seems to have been murdered on Taghi’s orders. Khalid can then pack, according to Lars. “Again suspicions in the media, a completely different image of Khalid. Well, that can of course also have huge consequences with a view to a possible future return as a presenter.”
Summary proceedings
One thing is certain: Royce de Vries, Khalid’s former business partner, is taking the AD to court to prevent a new publication – the hearing is on Thursday – and that of course says that something big is going on. If Lars’ theory is correct, you would expect Khalid to join the lawsuit, but that is not the case.
According to Lars, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. “That may partly be for PR reasons, because if Khalid participates, he cannot publicly maintain that he has little to hide. But it may also be that the interests of those two, who were two hands in one go (…) are no longer completely aligned here.”
After all, Royce’s career as a lawyer is at stake. “Beats. And he will undoubtedly be afraid of that.”