RSC Anderlecht's former board is set to appear in court in February over the controversial 2017 sale of the club. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has charged them with counts of fraud and money laundering.
As the result of a two-year-long investigation into the sale of the club, the trial will see former chiefs Roger Vanden Stock (President) and Herman Van Holsbeeck (Sporting Director), take the stand in court over their role in the matter.
Furthermore, other individuals such as the lawyer Luc Deleu and player agent Christophe Henrotay, as well as the law firm Clifford Chance, have also been summoned to court over their alleged role in the sale.
What are they accused of?
Investigators were set off by Van Holsbeeck's prior revelations in another, unrelated investigation, as well as allegations put forward by Red Devils player Leander Dedoncker over his own sale from the club.
Further findings revealed that the player's agent Christophe Henrotay had been paid a commission of €2 million. However, the prosecutor believes that this was a way of compensating the agent for his undisclosed role in the sale of club. As a result, the club's new owner Marc Coucke would owe Henrotay a total of €9.4 million, €3 million over what he should have been paid.
Furthermore, lawyer Luc Deleu was found by the investigators to have laundered the money owed to Clifford Chance, the law firm in charge of the sale. In exchange, he would have benefited from free seats in the club's stadium's main stand.
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In response, Marc Coucke told Het Belang van Limburg that his "gut feeling" had been proven right. "Not long after I took office, many skeletons began falling out the closet," he explained.
While glad that the investigation is picking up pace, Coucke expressed his ever-lasting outrage over the situation, more than five years after purchasing the club.
The is another stain on the club's history after they were found guilty in 1997 of bribing a referee during a UEFA Cup semi-final match against English side Nottingham Forest in 1984.
