The Hal-Vilvorde Prosecutor’s Office is pursuing a criminal organisation accused of laundering nearly €80 million.
Twelve individuals are set to appear before the Brussels correctional court on 15 and 29 January, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The defendants face charges of forgery, use of forged documents, money laundering, and participation in a criminal organisation. They risk sentences of up to ten years in prison and fines of up to €1.6 million.
The case began in 2022 when Belgium’s Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTIF) flagged suspicious transactions linked to the bank accounts of a company in Crainhem, on the outskirts of Brussels.
Over the course of 14 months, more than €1.6 million was deposited into these accounts. The company’s background and the nature of the transactions led the federal judicial police in Hal-Vilvorde to suspect money laundering.
The criminal organisation, managed by individuals originally from Brazil and Portugal, reportedly acted as intermediaries.
They facilitated the transfer of large amounts of cash from criminal groups to companies needing money to pay undeclared workers.
According to the prosecutor’s office spokesperson Sabine Lievens, members operated from an office building in Ophain (Walloon Brabant), where money was collected and redistributed daily.
To legitimise these cash flows, several fake companies were allegedly established, with Portuguese nationals recruited as figureheads to serve as managers.
These companies paid via bank transfers, and the cash, minus commissions, was returned to them.
This process enabled businesses to obtain cash for paying undeclared and unregistered workers, the prosecutor’s office explained.
