Twenty-seven years ago today, on December 23, 1998 (November 5, 1998 in the lunar calendar), the Belgian High Court concluded the trial of the "Agusta and Dassault Bribery Case". On December 23, 1998, the Belgian Supreme Court concluded the trial of the "Agusta and Dassault Bribery Case" and sentenced the main offender, former NATO Secretary-General Klaas, to 3 years in prison (suspended execution) and 5 years of deprivation of political rights on the charge of corruption (taking bribes). Dassault, the president of French Dassault, and Gome, the former Belgian defense minister, who were involved in the case, were also punished. "Agusta" and "Dassault" are the names of two Italian and French arms companies respectively. In the late 1980s, the two companies made political donations to the then-ruling French-speaking Socialist Party and the Dutch-speaking Socialist Party in Belgium in exchange for contracts in order to obtain arms orders in Belgium. The Belgian media called this the largest political corruption scandal in Belgian history, and it was called the "case of the century" because it lasted for 10 years. The experience of this case is quite tortuous and complicated. On July 18, 1991, a famous Belgian politician and founder of the French-speaking Socialist Party, Kuhl, was shot and killed at close range with a pistol as he walked out of his mistress's house. The local police immediately launched an investigation. Soon, the female judge of Liege took over the case. She found that Kuhl's death was likely political murder. In the financial files of the French Socialist Party she reviewed, several payments were related to Agusta and Dassault. Anch realized that these were likely two "money for contracts" transactions. Although the murder of Kuhl has not been solved, the Socialist Party implicated in the case has been pursued by the judiciary for accepting bribes. On December 8, 1988, the Belgian government signed a contract with Agusta to buy 46 A-106 military helicopters worth 12 billion Belgian francs (about $3.200 million). In June 1989, the Belgian government signed a contract with Dassault to equip the Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter jets with new electronic equipment. The two companies probably gave the French- and Dutch-speaking Socialists "red envelopes" to obtain the order, the amount is estimated to be around $2 million. As the investigation deepened, some senior officials were exposed. Defense Minister Gome, French Socialist Party Chairperson Buschan, Dutch Socialist Party Chairperson and Foreign Minister Van den Brooke were forced to resign one after another. On March 7, 1995, the insider in the case, former Belgian Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Lefer, died suddenly in a hotel. It was later confirmed by the police that Lefer committed suicide. This incident prompted the judicial department to speed up the investigation and quickly target the central figure in the case, the contract signatory Klaas. Klaas, who had been deputy prime minister and minister of economy and deputy prime minister and foreign minister in two Belgian cabinets since May 1988, was responsible for the two arms contracts. Klaas was also a figure of international influence, and was then the secretary general of NATO. Klaas has repeatedly stated that he was completely unaware of the matter. In February 1995, Mange, the former treasurer of the French-speaking Socialist Party, was arrested, admitted that the Socialist Party did take bribes, and confessed that he had told Klaas, Vandenbrook and other Socialist Party leaders about the matter on January 19, 1989. At this point, Vandenbrook had to admit that this was the case, but Klaas changed his words and said "I can't remember". Later, the police arrested Klaas's former chief of staff, Delange. On April 7, 1995, the Belgian Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution allowing the Supreme Court to summon Klaas, Gom, and Tobak, the former chairperson of the Dutch Socialist Party, and others. In mid-September, the Supreme Court submitted an investigation report to the parliament, asking that Klaas be submitted to the court for review. After hearing Klaas's defense, the parliament voted in favor of 97 votes, 52 votes against and 1 abstention, and approved the court's request to send Klaas to the Supreme Court for trial on suspicion of bribery and perjury. Klaas immediately announced his resignation as NATO Secretary-General. Subsequently, the Belgian Supreme Court opened the case on September 2, 1998 after nearly three years of continuous investigation and evidence collection.