LHSP

Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products

Latest update 23 September 2010

 

The registrations for this case are closed

 

After six years of investigation, three years of trial including 20 months of deliberation, the Court of Appeal of Ghent has rendered at last on 20 September 2010 its decision in the LHSP case in a judgment more than 2000-pages long. This decision only relates to the criminal lawsuit. The compensation claims have not been handled yet.

The Court of Appeal has found guilty 8 of the 21 defendants and pronounced a sanction against them.

 

The Court of Appeal in Ghent has declared the founders of the former speech technology company LHSP guilty of financial fraud, but also former CEO Gaston Bastiaens and senior manager Nico Willaert. All four have been condemned to five years imprisonment, of which three years effective (except for Bastiaens which was sentenced to two years effective imprisonment) as they were found guilty on several charges, including falsification of the annual accounts, committing forgery and market manipulation.

 

Tony Snauwaert, active in LHSP subsidiaries, and Thomas Denys, advising lawyer and director were also condemned to two years imprisonment, while Carl Dammekes, financial director, was declared guilty and condemned to 6 months conditional imprisonment.

 

On the other hand, the Court of Appeal in Ghent acquitted Artesia Bank (since its take-over now called Dexia) and LHSP's accountants KPMG of any wrongdoing in this decade-old fraud case an declared Dexia and KPMG were not to blame for fraudulent accounts at LHSP.

 

While KPMG was cleared, its accountant William Van Aerde, responsible for the accounting supervision with LHSP was condemned to a fine of € 2.478,93. The Court of Appeal declared that the professional fault held against him was not intentional.

 

Four defendants (Philip Beernaert, Christophe Lammar, Patrick De Schrijver and Philippe Vermeulen) were cleared on the grounds that they were incriminated too late and therefore their rights of defence were violated. For the other defendants the alleged facts were not proven.

 

Deminor reminds all concerned parties that the trial in Ghent is only about the criminal liability of the people and professionals directly involved in the company's fraud. The question of the compensation will be later tackled in the civil proceedings, that will determine who is entitled to receive compensation and how much compensation will be paid and by whom. These civil proceedings will not take place before end of 2011, stated the Court in Ghent.

 

Regarding the acquittal of both Dexia Bank, and KPMG, Deminor warns the chances of any amounts of compensation being paid out to LHSP shareholders are reduced. But the fact that the Court of Appeal finds the facts cannot be proved for the KPMG entity itself, but can be accounted to William Van Aerde personally, needs to be further examined. As the Court of Appeal concluded that the professional fault held against the accountant, was not intentional, the condemnation of William Van Aerde might open a possibility to claim compensation from the insurer of the auditor and of the firm KPMG.

To view the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Ghent, please follow this link http://www.juridat.be/beroep/gent/index.htm click then on "inlichtingen" and then "arrest L & H".

 

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