A court in Hainaut on Monday sentenced a French entrepreneur to six years in prison for heading an international money-laundering venture.
However, the Sixth Correctional Chamber of the Hainaut court, Mons Division, did not order the defendant’s arrest, which had been requested by the Office of the Public Prosecutor.
The prosecution had asked for sentences ranging from seven to eight years in prison for three men it viewed as the leaders of the criminal organisation. The other two were given suspended sentences of four and three years in prison.
The three were among some 20 defendants. Nine were acquitted, while the others received suspended sentences and community work.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the group turned over several million euros in a few years, between Belgium and China.
Its modus operandi was common: the defendants took control of businesses that had no real activity, and placed front men with false identities at their head. Bank accounts were opened, based on false documents, with the aim of laundering the dirty money.
The public prosecutor’s office had divided the case into two parts. The first was assigned to a Brussels investigating judge, while the second was investigated in Mons.
