Patokh Chodiev was also accused of having received help in this matter from the mayor of Waterloo, Serge Kubla (fr). His Belgian naturalization was finally the subject of an official inquiry in January 2017, about which the Belgian newspaper Le Soir wrote on 11 January 2017: “When Serge Kubla wrote to Claude Eerdekens on 16 May 1997, all the Lights were already green for Chodiev: he had the support of the SPF Justice, the State Security Service, the Aliens Department, the Waterloo police and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and therefore also that of the naturalization Service.” On March 8, 2017, Serge Kubla assured “under oath" not to have intervened on Chodiev’s behalf. Chief investigator of the case, Jean-François Kayser, stated that “there is no evidence of Mr. Kubla's physical intervention with Mr. Vandewalle”, referring to the Chief Commissioner of the Waterloo police.