In the case of fraud in the sale of the Anderlecht football club, the public prosecutor’s office has asked the Brussels council chamber to forward the file to the criminal court. The newspaper De Tijd reported on Wednesday. Prosecutors are seeking the prosecution of 11 people and three companies for a range of crimes: fraud, forgery, money laundering, private corruption, breach of professional secrecy and breach of trust.
The progress speeds up the investigation. The Council Chamber hearing on a possible bill is scheduled for February 14.
De Tijd writes that Herman Van Holsbeeck, former top man of RSC Anderlecht, admitted during his interrogations to fraud in the sale to the Central Anti-Corruption Service, the Federal Police’s anti-corruption investigators.
Other suspects include chairman Roger Vanden Stock, ex-CEO Jo Van Biesbroeck, former finance director René Trullemans and then house attorney. Broker Christophe Henrotay, who is in the court’s crosshairs over other football-related files, and two of his employees are also suspects, as is Foot Innovation Limited, a British company owned by Henrotay.
The renowned law firm Clifford Chance and two of its lawyers are also targeting the public prosecutor’s office. Clifford Chance supported the Anderlecht leadership in the sale to Marc Coucke at the end of 2017. Lawyer Luc Deleu also wants to prosecute the public prosecutor’s office, as does the law firm Van Landuyt en Vennoten, to which Deleu belongs. Deleu has been a director at Anderlecht since last year, where he sits alongside representatives from Coucke’s family car, Alychlo.
The suspicion is that the then owners and their entourage tricked Coucke into paying too much for Anderlecht by cheating on him.
Source : HLN
