Paul Vanden Boeynants

Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants (, ; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician. He served as the prime minister of Belgium for two brief periods (1966–68 and 1978–79).

Boeynants led a centre-left cabinet from 1966 to 1968 and another centre-left cabinet from 1978 to 1979.

Fraud Convicted in 1986 for fraud and tax evasion, Vanden Boeynants was given a suspended jail sentence of three years. This prevented him from pursuing mayoral aspirations in Brussels. He underwent a political rehabilitation during the early 1990s.

Kidnapping In an incident that is still the subject of dispute, Vanden Boeynants was kidnapped on 14 January 1989 by members of the Haemers criminal gang. Three days later, the criminals published a note in the leading Brussels newspaper Le Soir, demanding 30 million Belgian francs in ransom. Vanden Boeynants was released unharmed a month later, on 13 February, when an undisclosed ransom was paid to the perpetrators. The gang members were caught and imprisoned. Patrick Haemers, the head of the gang, died from suicide in prison, and two members of his gang managed to escape from the St Gillis Prison in 1993.

In popular culture The kidnapping was referenced in a 1989 novelty song by the New Beat band Brussels Sound Revolution called "Qui...?", which featured samples from the press conference Vanden Boeynants gave after his kidnapping. It was a hit on both sides of the Belgian language border. In Flanders, Belgium, it reached the 28th place in the Radio 2 hitparade at the time for one week.

Alleged drug smuggling There were allegations in the early 1980s that drugs were smuggled into Belgium hidden in frozen meat via companies linked to Vanden Boeynants (he had established a meat company called Mediterranean Meat Company). The allegations became the topic of a parliamentary inquiry, although no people were convicted.

Alleged child abuse

Marc Dutroux Paul Vanden Boeynants was named as a pedophile implicated in the larger Dutroux-affair in the book Dossier pédophilie : le scandale de l'affaire Dutroux (2001). The claims made in the book triggered a defamation suit by the relatives of Vanden Boeynants.

Anneke Lucas In 2023, Anneke Lucas, a child sex trafficking survivor, named Vanden Boeyants as a person who was in charge of a Belgian pedophile network in the early 1970’s.

Honours Minister of State, by Royal Decree.

40px Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Saints Michael and George.

Literature N. Hirson, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Brussels, 1969. Paul Debogne, Les Amis de Paul Vanden Boeynants et leurs Affaires, Ed. Vie Ouvrière, Brussel, 1970. R. Stuyck, Paul Vanden Boeynants, boeman of supermen?, Brussels, 1973. Els Cleemput & Alain Guillaume, La rançon d'une vie. Paul Vanden Boeynants 30 jours aux mains de Patrick Haemers, Brussels, 1990. D. Ilegems & J. Willems, De avonturen van VDB, Brussels, 1991. P. Havaux & P. Marlet, Sur la piste du crocodile, Brussels, 1994. Armand De Decker, In memoriam Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian Senate, 18 January 2001.