According to an Olaf spokesman, the investigation has been
going on for some months. Investigators are looking into
how €1.5 million in subsidies from the European Regional
Development Fund found their way into the Land Van Ooit
project and whether the grant-giving authority was misled in
the process.

Het Land Van Ooit (The Land of Long Ago) is a Dutch
concept; the main park in Drunen, the Netherlands, is run
by the Taminiau family. The theme is a sort of Romanmediaeval
fantasy, with the big selling point that within the
gates of the park, children are in charge and may tell their
parents what to do.

The Dutch park was set up in 1989 by Marc Taminiau, who
had been a director of the nearby fairy-tale theme park De
Efteling. The Dutch Land Van Ooit also went broke in 2007,
partly due to bad publicity from the Tongeren closure.

The first trumpets were sounded announcing the arrival of
a Flemish counterpart to the Dutch park in 1998, and the
project received the enthusiastic support of Tongeren mayor
Patrick Dewael – who later went on to become Flemish
minister-president, federal interior minister and speaker
of the chamber of representatives. Concrete plans for the
park emerged in 2003, but a 2005 feasibility study by the
finance ministry suggested that the park was not viable and
called plans “irresponsible”.

The closure of Ooit Tongeren, which had only been open for
74 days, is reckoned to be the biggest tourism flop Flanders
has ever experienced. A total of €20 million in public money
– including the €1.5 million in EU subsidies and €13 million
from the Limburg Strategic Investment Agency – was lost.

Meanwhile members of the Taminiau family have been
charged by Tongeren magistrates with false documentation,
misuse of company property and fraudulent bankruptcy. Trial
on those charges is due to begin in October.