Will only 13 or 14 clubs play in the first division next football season? If it depends on Kris Luyckx, lawyer of ex-broker and regret optant Dejan Veljkovic, it does. “If the football association is consistent, certain clubs will have to be relegated,” says Luyckx. Get ready for another bomb in Belgian football.
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“The conclusion after three years of research is that the system of black commissions, black salaries, false scouting contracts, evasion of social security, … was widely spread in Belgian football,” said Luyckx yesterday in De Afspraak on Canvas. He refused to name names but threw numbers on the table that make you dizzy.
“My client has been interviewed 47 or 49 times in two years, more than 200 hours in total. In it he said that he managed to pass almost 40 million euros through his hands. That is black money that he has handed out. Of that, 4 million euros has stuck with him. There are fifty transfers where something has gone fundamentally wrong, a total of one hundred contracts where fraud has been committed. I expect the bill will be presented to 30 to 40 people. Board members, trainers and maybe even football players are in the file.”
The lawyer talks about individuals but mainly warns the clubs.
“Almost every professional club used that system and participated in those practices. Some even built their business model on it. For some clubs, that was survival. Players and coaches became cheaper this way. That is a form of distortion of competition. The Belgian Football Association is waiting for the conclusion of this investigation. If the football association is consistent, then we will not play with many teams in the first division next season. Those clubs will of course point to previous board members, but the association must be consistent. Certain clubs will have to be relegated if the rules are applied correctly.”
When the public prosecutor first opened cases about the fraudulent practices three years ago, federal magistrate Wenke Roggen mentioned the names of KV Mechelen, Genk, Lokeren, Club Brugge and Standard in this regard.
Veljkovic was charged with leadership of a criminal organization, forgery and tax fraud. — © BELGA
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in hiding
Luyckx is the lawyer of Dejan Veljkovic, regretful optant in the operation Clean Hands, the judicial investigation into financial malpractice and bribery in Belgian football. Veljkovic was a real estate agent who, like many other football leaders, were lifted from their beds on October 10, 2018 and ultimately charged with the leadership of a criminal organization, forgery and tax fraud. Faced with the threat of imprisonment, he decided, in consultation with his lawyer Kris Luyckx, to act as a remorseful optant. He got away with a five-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 80,000 euros with a suspended sentence. The approximately four million euros that he embezzled will be forfeited. Because of his statements, Veljkovic has talked some people to the gallows.
“Now the process begins for other people,” said Luyckx. “A lot of people will be mad at him. There is automatic protection for regret optants, which continues until today. In the beginning he was even in hiding. In the past, there have been signs that it was better to protect him. Importantly, the court only included substantial and truthful stories in the file. However, matters from the file that have not been proven have also been publicized (last week around the RTBf report ‘Le milieu du terrain’, ed). One has to be careful with that.”
Openness in the case is expected by the end of this year.
“The final agreement has been signed (last Thursday, ed),” said Luyckx. “One of the next steps is for this to be ratified by the Court of Appeal. Veljkovic is no longer allowed to commit new acts. He has no regrets. Because he is regretful, he has helped the file move forward. The Belgian state is also served by this. The tax authorities can easily recover 100 million euros from the 40 million distributed funds.”
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