Sihame El Kaouakibi (born 9 July 1986) is a former Belgian politician and the founder of the ''Let's Go Urban'' project. In 2021, she was accused of fraudulent use of government

subsidies A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

. Almost 1 million euro is claimed to have been used for her own profit.

Biography

El Kaouakibi grew up in Boom,

Antwerp Province Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost Provinces of Belgium, province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of t ...

, as one of seven children. In 2009, El Kaouakibi founded ''Let's Go Urban'', in 2013, ''Youth and Urban Projects'' and in 2014, ''A Woman's View''. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the board of directors of the Flemish

public broadcaster Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

VRT by the political party

Open Vld The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal ...

. In 2019, Open Vld placed her on their electoral list for the

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...

. She was elected with 10,704 votes. In 2021, she left the party after the financial scandal broke lose. She remained active in the Flemish Parliament until the end of her term in 2024, as an

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

, but has been on sick leave since October 2020.

Financial scandals

In February 2021, an inquiry was opened for potential financial fraud at her organisation ''Let's Go Urban''. An independent audit was performed and several obscure financial constructions were found. Following the potential problems found by the audit, the city of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

opened an investigation regarding several thousands in subsidies given to ''Let's Go Urban'' to figure out what happened with the money. In addition to the above investigations, the public prosecutor's office of Antwerp also opened an investigation regarding the potential fraud by El Kaouakibi. El Kaouakibi herself filed a complaint against unknown persons. According to her, documents were adjusted and leaked to the press. On 28 March 2021,

VTM Nieuws VTM Nieuws is the name of the daily news broadcasts on the Flemish television network VTM. The bulletins were the first competition to VRT NWS Journaal, the news programmes broadcast by the VRT. History ''VTM Nieuws'' was first broadcast on 1 ...

provided evidence of potential fraud with invoices. In a preliminary report, a potential of €450,000 in subsidies were embezzled from ''Let's Go Urban'' to El Kaouakibi's private accounts. Based on the preliminary report regarding potential embezzlement, the

Federal Public Service Interior The FPS Interior (, , ), formerly the Ministry of the Interior, is a Federal Public Service of Belgium. It was created by Royal Order on 14 January 2002, as part of the plans of the Verhofstadt I Government to modernise the federal administratio ...

started an investigation regarding subsidies given to ''WeLoveBxl'', the Brussels branch of ''Let's Go Urban''. In early April 2021, the city of Antwerp had the assets of El Kaouakibi seized after reports that she wanted to sell real estate. A new audit from the city of Antwerp showed that €350,000 were embezzled. The Antwerp prosecutor's office requested that the Flemish Parliament lift her parliamentary immunity on two occasions, in October 2022 and October 2023. On October 3, the (court of first instance that adjucates on fairly simple criminal issues, usually in closed session) takes a decision in the .

Awards

* 2018: Global Diversity Award by

Stanton Chase Stanton Chase is a retained executive search and consulting firm established in 1990 and operated by independently owned partner firms with 76 offices in 45 countries. History Stanton Chase was founded in 1990 by partners who owned executive sear ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaouakibi, Sihame 21st-century Belgian politicians Living people 1986 births Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni 21st-century Belgian women politicians Members of the Flemish Parliament