Mystery, Doubts Shroud Kidnaping of Belgian

It is a real-life mystery worthy of the fictional Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

One of Belgium’s most popular politicians, two-time Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants, was kidnaped Jan. 14 from his apartment building garage by a group calling itself the Socialist Revolutionary Brigade.

But some people think maybe not.

“Let’s put it this way,” said a non-European diplomat based here, “We have strong doubts that things happened the way they said.”

One reason for the skepticism is that Vanden Boeynants, 69, was convicted of tax evasion two years ago by a judge who called him an “inveterate cheat.” He was being investigated once again, this time for receiving kickbacks between 1972-79 while he was Belgium’s defense minister.

In any case, the former butcher turned politician, nicknamed “Paul Sausage” because he used to distribute truck-loads of free blood sausages to encourage voters on election days, has disappeared and investigators have been stymied for nearly three weeks.

“We are waiting for a trail to follow,” said Brussels public prosecutor Andre Vandoren earlier this week.

“We are hoping for something in the next few days. But all we know now is that he has been kidnaped by a group calling itself the Socialist Revolutionary Brigade that is ideologically not very clear.”

The previously unknown organization took responsibility in a telephone call to the Belgian radio and television service on the day of the kidnaping.

Ten days later, a Brussels newspaper received a typewritten demand for $790,000 in ransom from the group, along with Vanden Boeynants’ identity card and some strangely worded samples of his handwriting. His note pledged that a substantial portion of the ransom money would be paid to institutions for the poor within six weeks of his release.

Since then, there’s been no word on Vanden Boeynants’ fate.

A Tearful Appeal

In desperation, the missing politician’s son went on television this week in a tearful appeal to the kidnapers and his father. “Papa, if you can hear me or if you can see me, you must know that we are with you,” said Christian Vanden Boeynants, manager of one of his father’s meat-processing plants.

Meanwhile, nearly everyone in Brussels has a theory about what happened to their favorite politician, a Christian Democrat.

Even after his conviction, Vanden Boeynants received more votes than anyone else in recent city elections and was in line to become mayor of Brussels, a life-long dream of his.

He reluctantly turned the job down under pressure from Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, who is said to have balked at the idea of a convicted man--Vanden Boeynants received a three-year suspended sentence--being chief executive of the “Capital of Europe.”

But in the tough working-class neighborhoods like Les Marolles, a maze of narrow cobblestone streets in the heart of Brussels, people are more likely to forgive his sins and relish his exploits.

‘He Knew Too Much’

When he was asked about Vanden Boeynants, a retired policeman happily pulled a dog-eared card signed by the politician from his briefcase. “We once dined together,” he said proudly.

The retired policeman speculated that the Vanden Boeynants has been killed by some of his political associates because “he knew too much.”

A Communist painting contractor said he had great respect for the virulently anti-Communist political leader. He theorized that the kidnaping was the work of the extreme right wing.

A taxi driver said it could only be the work of the extreme left. “Most of my friends are extreme right. I know it was not them,” he said.

Strange crimes of murky ideological origin are not that unusual in Brussels. Four years ago, the city and its suburbs suffered a wave of commando-style attacks by gunmen on crowded markets. After two years of this random violence that left the city in a state of terror, the attacks suddenly stopped, but not before 30 people had been killed.

No one was ever arrested. Opinion remains divided as to whether the attacking gang was a leftist group or a right-wing group.

A popular theory in the Robin Hood vein is that Vanden Boeynants disappeared with part of the Belgian treasury.

“I’m afraid Paul Sausage has drowned in a pot-de-vin ,” said a denizen of a Les Marolles bar named La Lanterne. He used the expression--literally, a pot of wine--that is argot for “payoff.”

Theories like this have caused Vanden Boeynants’ many friends to jump to his defense.

Vanden Boeynants is an honest man of scrupulous political morality, said his former aide in the ministry of defense, retired Gen. Jules Everaert.

In the general’s mind, his friend was the victim of persecution by the press, although the political leader seemed on good terms with reporters, sending many of them several pounds of prime beef every Christmas.

“He had the impression that each time a villainous affair exploded in Belgium, someone tried to throw him in the middle of it in one way or the other. Once he told me: ‘When I die, they will follow me to the grave.’ ”