Achats Services Commerces

Achats Services Commerces, known by its acronym ASCO, was a secondhand car exporting business owned by Jean-Michel Nihoul that operated white Mercedes vehicles linked to child abduction attempts. The company's manager was Jean-Louis Delamotte, an old acquaintance of Nihoul from the Brussels sex party scene. Other founders included Michel Forgeot, manager of Le Dolo bar, and Marleen De Cokere, Nihoul's life companion. After only four years, financial difficulties led to bankruptcy in October 1995.¹

The La Louviere police had indications a year before Marc Dutroux was arrested that ASCO, which maintained a number of white Mercedes through a branch, might have played a role in attempted child abductions. Michelle Martin and Michel Lelievre both stated that Dutroux kidnapped girls based on orders from Nihoul, using ASCO vehicles for transport. X-witness testimony in the X-Dossier described the ASCO premises as a site for abuse parties where children were brought by Nihoul and assaulted by attendees including Jean-Paul Dumont, Michel Vander Elst, Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin, Melchior Wathelet, and Paul Vanden Boeynants.¹

ASCO Industries NV

A separate entity, ASCO Industries NV, was an aerospace company in Zaventem near Brussels owned by military industrialist Roger Boas, a close associate of politicians orbiting Belgium's Parti Social Chretien. X1 (Regina Louf) directed investigators to the ASCO Industries factory, describing it as a site for snuff film production where children were tortured and killed. Investigators verified the factory's layout and the smell described by X1, but no physical evidence of films was found. Boas denied all accusations and was not charged.¹