KBC Group
Support for apartheid in South Africa
### Support for apartheid in South Africa

One of Kredietbank's main shareholders in the postwar period, [André Vlerick](/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Vlerick "André Vlerick"), was actively involved in public advocacy of the [Apartheid](/wiki/Apartheid "Apartheid")\-promoting regime of [South Africa](/wiki/South_Africa "South Africa") and support of its circumvention of sanctions.

In April 2018, NGO [OpenSecrets](/wiki/OpenSecrets "OpenSecrets"), in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the [Georgetown University Law Center](/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center "Georgetown University Law Center"), filed a complaint at the [OECD](/wiki/OECD "OECD"), claiming that KBC and KBL had violated the Organization's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in their dealings with South Africa between 1977 and 1994\. According to the complaint, KBC and KBL together "were responsible for facilitating up to 70% of all illegal arms transactions that allowed the apartheid government to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory UN arms sanctions." As part of that process, OpenSecrets and CALS submitted a detailed document to the OECD contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg to support their claim. At the same time, hearings were held on the matter at South Africa's People's Tribunal on Economic Crime led by [Zak Yacoob](/wiki/Zak_Yacoob "Zak Yacoob") in [Johannesburg](/wiki/Johannesburg "Johannesburg").


What were the consequences for KBC and KBL after the complaint was filed against them?