The suspect is H.L., a 52-year-old man holding dual Belgian-Chinese nationality. L. worked as a senior manager in the research department at the now-bankrupt Belgan from Oudenaarde. According to De Standaard, he was arrested on 10 May as he was about to board a flight to Beijing.
Belgan went bankrupt in 2024 for purely economic reasons, or so it seemed at the time. However, investigators now suspect that the Chinese owners, who took over Belgan in 2021, were not interested in making Belgan a thriving company, but rather in smuggling technology to China.
Several months after becoming active at Belgan, L. also took on a managerial role at a Chinese company in China. That company — Gankool — was established shortly after Belgan…