This is the story of an official of the Belgian economic inspection, dismissed from his position for having published a book on the excesses of the art market, today reinstated following an appeal before the Council of State. It all starts in 2024, with the publication of the book The secrets of the art market in Belgium (Editions Racine) which presented, with supporting examples, Brussels as a place open to various trafficking, counterfeiting and illicit operations relating to works of art and antiques. Its author, appearing behind a mask of Tutankhamun and his identity hidden behind the assumed name of Bernard Staessens, was a federal official specializing in the field.
Although they were aware of the book and were able to read it before publication, his superiors did not take his revelations very well and, after a complaint from the Belgian Royal Chamber of Antiquaries to the Economic Inspectorate, the whistleblower was subject to disciplinary action and suspended in October 2024.
In April 2025, the disciplinary board of appeal for French-speaking civil servants, however, considered that the grievances made against him did not justify a sanction. Despite this opinion, the Minister of the Economy David Clarinval announced his automatic resignation in June 2025. The man who we know today is called Benoît Schoonbroodt and that he is a judicial police officer, but also an art historian and author of several works on Art Nouveau, appealed to the Council of State, which agreed with him.
The measure is suspended, the appeal considering that the complaints against it have not been sufficiently established. On July 5, 2026, David Clarinval signed a royal decree canceling the automatic resignation. Benoît Schoonbroodt is rehabilitated and no fault will be held against him. He is thus reinstated as a civil servant and recovers his rights.
However, this is only half a victory, because the expert in trafficking in cultural goods did not return to his former functions linked to the art market and was assigned to another department of the Federal Public Service Economy. The State is thus depriving itself of valuable expertise, especially since the Art and Antiquities unit of the Federal Police, already moribund, was dissolved on January 1, 2022, once its last specialized investigator, Lucas Verhaegen, retired.
Faced with strong criticism from the art world, the government and the risks of non-compliance with Belgium’s international commitments, the unit was officially recreated on October 1, 2022 under the name Art Research Team (Art section), still integrated into the DJSOC (Central Directorate for the Fight against Serious and Organized Crime). Led by new profiles, such as Laurence Massy, from the money laundering unit, the section no longer carries out direct investigations in the field. Its role is now purely focused on coordination, centralization of information and management of databases, such as ARTIST which lists, in collaboration with INTERPOL, all cultural property and works of art reported as stolen on Belgian territory.
