The court is investigating possible crimes at the bankrupt fashion group FNG, and that investigation has been extended to money laundering. De Tijd writes that the spokesperson for the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office, Kristof Aerts, confirms the news.
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There are indications that constructions have been set up to transfer money and launder money, at FNG, the Mechelen investigating judge Theo Byl is looking at the case. This gives the criminal investigation a new dimension, there were already indications of market manipulation and forgeries in the annual accounts. According to De Tijd, a search was also carried out at the law firm NautaDutilh, FNG’s in-house attorney. A lawyer from that office, Elke Janssens, was charged by the investigating judge.
The investigators are looking for more information about the Fashion Buying Platform Holding purchasing platform. FNG wanted to buy clothing cheaply in low-wage Asian countries through its own purchasing organization, but the structures in Switzerland and Hong Kong, and all kinds of share transactions around them, raise questions. The biggest question mark is how FNG lost 94 million euros in that purchasing network. This loss due to ‘complex and international transactions’ contributed to the fall of the Mechelen fashion group behind the brands Brantano, CKS and Claudia Sträter.
NautaDutilh did not respond to De Tijd. The public prosecutor’s office does not give names, but confirms that since the beginning of the judicial investigation ‘a dozen house searches and several seizures have already been carried out. “At the moment, four people have been charged,” Aerts said. Three of them formed the former management of FNG: the founder trio Dieter Penninckx, Anja Maes and Manu Bracke.
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