As part of operation 'Umbrella,' police raided 46 addresses across Belgium on Tuesday morning to dismantle a construction fraud ring.
Investigators from the Federal Judicial Police in Brussels carried out a major operation across the country on Tuesday, with the aim of dismantling a network of social fraud in the construction sector.
In total, 46 places – mainly homes – were searched, mostly in Brussels but also in the provinces of Flemish Brabant and East Flanders, as well as in the city of Seraing (in the Liège province). 21 people were arrested and taken into police custody.
The criminal organisation, which has its roots in Romania, has seen around €68 million pass through its accounts since the start of the investigation in July 2020, according to reports by L'Echo.
'Essentially a slave trade'
The investigation was opened following reports from several Brussels municipalities to the judicial authorities stating that numerous Romanian and Moldovan nationals were arriving, "suddenly and massively," to request 'annex 19' – which gives them access to a national BIS number that is valid for a few months.
At the same time, the Immigration Office noted the proliferation of false documents among these same Romanian and Moldovan nationals – especially false identity documents, lease contracts and employment contracts within shell companies that were well known to the Brussels labour auditor.
Led by a Brussels investigating judge and labour auditor Ivan Bouioukliev, the investigation uncovered what the press are calling "essentially a slave trade" aimed at social dumping on numerous large private construction sites in Belgium. To ensure international cooperation, the National Social Security Office, The National Social Insurance Institute for Self-Employed Workers (INASTI) and Eurojust also participated in the investigation.
The authorities uncovered money laundering, fraud in social criminal law, forgery and corruption. Around €70,000 in cash, real estate in Belgium and around ten luxury cars were seized, and 127 bank accounts were blocked, confirmed a press release from the Brussels Labour Auditorate.
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The criminal organisation worked as a structure based in Romania which passed off workers of other nationalities as Romanians, making them benefit from facilities to register or join insurance funds through their false belonging to an EU country.
The same workers (more than a hundred since the start of the fraud), worked in particular on large construction sites for a large Belgian construction company.
Among those arrested on Tuesday were people suspected of public and private corruption: an official from a Brussels municipality, for example, will be questioned about the facilities granted to members of the criminal organisation to obtain identity documents for them.
Suspicions of private and passive corruption were also highlighted by the investigation against a senior executive of the large private company on whose sites the workers came to work. Additionally, he will be questioned about renovation work and the installation of a jacuzzi in his own house.
