The Brussels Council Chamber on Thursday initiated an investigation of alleged fraud in the sale of football club RSC Anderlecht to Belgian businessman Marc Coucke.
The federal prosecutor is pursuing sixteen suspects, five of which are companies and eleven individuals. Statements from the prosecution and civil parties are due on the said date, while defence arguments will be heard on March 12. Former owners of the Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht and their associates are suspected of selling the club above its true value.
The prosecutor seeks to bring before a correctional court for deception, forgery, money laundering, corruption, breach of trust, and violation of professional secrecy.
Among the accused is former sports director Herman Van Holsbeeck, who reportedly admitted to fraud during his interrogation by the Central Office for the Suppression of Corruption (OCRC).
Other implicated parties include the club’s ex-president Roger Vanden Stock, former CEO Jo Van Biesbroeck, former CFO Rene Trullemans, and the then club’s lawyer. Player agent Christophe Henrotay, already in legal sights for other football-related cases, and two of his associates, along with the British company Foot Innovation owned by Henrotay, are also suspected.
The law firm Clifford Chance and two of its lawyers, who executed the sale to Marc Coucke in 2017, are also targeted by the investigation.
Resident lawyer and administrator Luc Deleu along with Van Landuyt and Associates, the firm with which he is affiliated, are implicated. Deleu served as an administrator at Anderlecht, where he sat alongside representatives of Marc Coucke’s investment vehicle, Alychlo.
