The Ghent Court of Appeals has convicted a former police commissioner of embezzlement for pocketing cash fines.
The man served as a police commissioner with the traffic police in Wetteren. When cash fines were collected, he failed to deposit them at the bank or post office to have them transferred to government accounts. The total amount involved is reported to be €14,600.
In the first instance, he was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison term and a fine of €4,000 euros, of which €2,000 were suspended.
Both the former police officer and the Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed. However, the Court of Appeal upheld the original verdict in its entirety.
In its reasoning, the court referred, among other things, to the particular gravity of the facts and the defendant’s apparent fraudulent intent.
"Public officials in general, and police officers in particular, enjoy a special trust. When they abuse their office, citizens’ trust in the state is undermined, and the fabric of society is endangered," the court stated in its ruling.
It added: "In doing so, the defendant betrayed not only society’s trust but also that of his force. He was solely focused on personal financial gain.”
In determining the sentence, the court took into account the fact that the case had been delayed, the former police officer’s clean criminal record, and his impeccable service record.
However, it concluded that acquitting the defendant would fail to send the right message about such serious offences.
"The offences committed have indeed damaged the reputation of the Flemish government. They undermine the trust that citizens must have in the public institutions responsible for oversight and authorised to impose sanctions," reads the ruling.
The man, who no longer holds any role in law enforcement, is now 60 years old.
