the prosecution wants a trial for 57 suspects
The Belgian federal prosecution announced on Friday that it wanted 56 people and a commercial company in court, in a vast fraud case that splashes the biggest football clubs in Belgium. This is an indictment “provisional“, Which can still be contested by the lawyers of the suspects, told AFP a spokeswoman for the federal prosecution.
The trial of this case known as “Operation Zero” Where “Footballgate”Should be held this year in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country. Agents, referees, players, managers of Pro League clubs (the Belgian first division): several dozen people had already been implicated in the fall of 2018 when the scandal broke.
Names were then added to the list of suspects, thanks in particular to the collaboration in the investigation of the players’ agent Dejan Veljkovic, the “repented»Of the case, which negotiated a suspended prison sentence at the end of 2021. For more than three years, the investigation focused mainly on suspicions of fraud during player transfers, embezzlement involved during the payment salaries, and commissions to players’ agents.
The offenses prosecuted are in particular “false in writing” and “money laundering“, We stressed to the prosecution. Some suspects will also have to answer for their involvement in at least two match-fixing. According to Belgian media, players’ agent Mogi Bayat and at least four coaches concerned by the request for referral to correctional. Among the coaches is Ivan Leko, ex-coach of FC Bruges, who had been indicted for money laundering in 2018.
Bruges, Genk, Anderlecht, Charleroi, Standard de Liège, FC Mechelen, Lokeren … the names of a dozen of the best-known clubs in the championship are cited in this dossier which looks like “earthquakeFor Belgian football. According to Kris Luyckx, lawyer for Dejan Veljkovic, embezzlement has been highlighted during about fifty transfers.
In addition to the 57 suspects (including a company) targeted by the indictment, around 200 others are suspected of having received money during undeclared transactions and were invited to regularize their situation with the tax administration, a bis indicated the spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.