It is in particular the choices to which the public prosecutor is forced, for lack of means of investigation, which worry these judicial actors. “If two years ago, I had dropped the files that I cannot process today, I would have been called crazy“, threw the federal prosecutor, Frédéric Van Leeuw.
His prosecution has to deal with the gigantic Sky ECC file, named after an encrypted system used by drug traffickers, which represents 459 files, 4,481 suspects, 9 magistrates available 24 hours a day and 1,000 FTEs used in one year. However, police resources are lacking. A finding corroborated by the public prosecutor of Antwerp, Frank De Keyser, whose district is home to the port which has become the epicenter of drug trafficking in northern Europe. The Attorney General of Brussels, Johan Delmulle, continued, insisting in particular on the loss of investigators for financial files.
“I became like a trader or negotiator of police abilities. A substantial budgetary effort is needed in the federal judicial police“, hammered the magistrate.