2023-09-12 18:20:09
Lucien Verkest, a leading actor in the dioxin crisis at the end of the 1990s with his son Jan Verkest, has died, Belga learned from reliable sources on Tuesday. The 88-year-old lived in a nursing home in Deinze, East Flanders.
Lucien Verkest was ordered to pay 24 million euros in damages after a health scandal called the “dioxin crisis”. This broke out in 1999 after dioxins were introduced into the food chain. According to the investigation, this contamination came from the Verkest company in Deinze and the Walloon company Fogra.
The Fogra company supplied fats contaminated with toxic Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) to Verkest, which then distributed them to animal feed companies. The Verkests claimed to provide their customers with rendered animal fat. It was actually a mixture of animal and technical fats.
Jan and Lucien Verkest were later found guilty of forgery, use of forgery and deception on the merchandise. The Ghent Court of Appeal sentenced them in 2011 to two years in prison, half of which was suspended. At first instance, the Verkest father and son received a lighter sentence, namely two years in prison, fully suspended.
Jan Verkest died in 2019.
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