The council of the Brussels City municipality plans to start a grand anti-money laundering campaign in the hospitality businesses, according to Bruzz.
The operation is supposed to start in June and will be focused on tracking down illegal business practices in the city centre, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek.
"We will screen every category, even the most respectable businesses. Not everyone launders money, but to everyone who does, I say: the City will catch you," Brussels City Mayor Philippe Close (PS) told the media.
The public prosecutor’s office will collaborate with local and federal police for the project, and they are now waiting for a green light from the Brussels City council. This approach of working together will give more information to the authorities.
Aside from hospitality businesses, the "usual suspects" for money laundering – such as nail salons, barbershops and mobile phones – can be targeted, he said. Venues proven to be guilty will either be temporarily suspended under certain conditions, like financial transparency, or shut down entirely and irrevocably.
National Drug Coordinator Charlotte Colman endorsed the initiative when speaking to Bruzz. She compared the operation to similar police activities in Ostend, Liège and Antwerp. "We know you only really hit drug dealers when you hit their wallets," she told the media.
