Antwerp man dealt in horsemeat
According to inspectors for the federal economics ministry, none of the suspect ready-meals containing horsemeat are on sale in Belgium. However, there is a local connection to the scandal sweeping Europe.
Jan Fasen is a Dutch national living in Antwerp and head of Draap Trading, the Cyprus-registered company at the centre of the horseflesh trade. Fasen has admitted that he bought horsemeat from a slaughterhouse in Romania and sold it to the French trader Spanghero, which then sold it on to food processing companies – without proper labelling – for use in meals sold by Picard in France and Findus in the UK.
Draap issued a brief statement saying that “clients were sold what they asked for”. Spanghero denies asking for it. Fasen was last year convicted of fraud in the Netherlands for selling horsemeat from South America in Germany and France as halal beef and was sentenced to 12 months. Among the questions now facing authorities is whether Fasen or Spanghero are telling the truth.
