Willy Claes

Willy Claes  link (Politician, fraudster)
Born	1938-11-24 Hasselt, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	Free University of Brussels
Criminal charge	graft?
Criminal penalty	60,000 Belgian Francs fine, 3-year probationary sentence
Children	2
Party	Different Socialist Party
Bilderberger, fraudster, ex Secretary General of NATO.

Willy Claes is a former Secretary General of NATO who resigned after the discovery of a bribe of over 50 million Belgian francs.

Bribe taking

Claes was Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 until 1994, and secretary general of NATO from 1994 until 1995, when he resigned after the discovery of a bribe of over 50 million Belgian francs that was accepted during contract negotiations with Agusta Helicopters during the time he was minister of economic affairs. A criminal trial was handled by the Court of Cassation, which is responsible for cases involving minister in function. Claes received a fine of 60,000 Belgian Francs, a 3-year probationary sentence and a 5-year prohibition on running for public office.

Connections

As is standard for NATO Secretaries General, Willy Claes attended the Bilderberg group (in 1994) prior to being awarded the job.

As Belgium's economics minister, he pumped billions of francs worth of subsidies into the steel industry dominated by baron Albert Frère in the late 1970s and early 1980s, allowing the Fre're family interests to escape the embrace of a crisis-prone, sunset industry and move into growth businesses such as financial services.

Exposure of Bilberberg

In 2010 he said on Belgian radio that each Bilderberg participant is given a report and they are "considered to use this report in setting their policies in the environments in which they affect".