Ghislain Londers was educated at the Catholic University of Leuven and took up the position as president of the Cassation Court in 2007 after a 20-year career as a magistrate. Even such an elevated position rarely brings any public fame, but that changed for Londers when, in December 2008, he wrote a letter to Herman Van Rompuy, then speaker of the federal parliament, alleging “unacceptable government contacts” in a case dealing with the rights of shareholders of Fortis bank. The bank was then in the process of being sold by the federal government to BNP Paribas of France.

The government, Londers alleged, had attempted to influence the opinions of the four judges sitting in the case. The letter, an unprecedented breach of protocol, led to the resignation of federal justice minister Jo Vandeurzen (now a minister in the Flemish government) and later to that of prime minister Yves Leterme.

Van Rompuy stepped in as caretaker prime minister and, in July of 2009, Leterme became foreign affairs minister, returning to the PM’s office when Van Rompuy became president of the European Council in November that year.

The letter earned Londers an investigation by the prosecutor-general for possible breach of professional confidentiality. That investigation is still running, and federal justice minister Stefaan De Clerck, responding to Londers’ resignation, was careful to point out last week that he did not consider the announcement to be connected in any way to the case.

Meanwhile the four judges who were sitting in the so-called Fortisgate case last week heard the verdict in their trial for breach of confidentiality and forgery of official documents.

With the departure of Londers, the justice system loses one of its most prominent advocates for reform to tackle the chronic backlog of cases, which has seen many charges dropped for lack of time or for passing the statute of limitations and serious cases normally destined for jury trial dealt with instead by lower courts.