Optima-bank
In the Optima Bank case, twelve suspects, including ex-CEO Jeroen Piqueur and ex-minister Luc Van den Bossche, must answer before the Ghent criminal court. The Ghent indictment chamber (KI) decided this on Tuesday.
A press release states that the indictment chamber “has declared the appeals of the accused partly inadmissible and partly unfounded”. This means that the KI has confirmed the earlier decision of the council chamber to refer Piqueur and eleven other parties to the criminal court.
The AI also confirms the earlier decision of the council chamber that the file against the Lombard insurance company has expired. Lombard is a Luxembourg insurance company that profits from the sale of investment funds (Tak23) to wealthy customers of Optima. Another core activity of Optima was the sale of apartments to well-off Flemish people. Optima also included the former Ethias Bank.
The criminal investigation consists of a multitude of files that go beyond the bank. This includes approximately 100 million euros that were allegedly withdrawn from Optima in Belgium via foreign structures (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands). This mainly concerns commissions earned on the sale of Lombard products.
Problems after bankruptcy
Piqueur’s group of companies ran into problems when Optima Bank was declared bankrupt in June 2016. In December 2017, former CEO Jeroen Piqueur, his son Ruben and daughter Rebecca were arrested by the investigating judge in Ghent. His daughter was quickly excluded from the investigation.
Jeroen Piqueur was suspected of misuse of company assets, money laundering, fraudulent insolvency and violations of banking legislation. He has always maintained that there was no reason to let Optima Bank go bankrupt. Piqueur has already been declared personally bankrupt. The question is what can still be achieved from him.
The KI has also referred a series of former Optima executives, including the socialist ex-minister Luc Van den Bossche, to criminal court. He was CEO of Optima Bank from 2011 to 2015 and then became chairman of the real estate company Optima Global Estate. Yet another important party that is referred is the investor Jos Sluys. His investment company, Saffelberg Investments, is also referred. This helped Piqueur finance its growth. (blg, pdd)
The civil parties, led by lawyer Geert Lenssens, will focus on Sluys, among other things, if convicted in criminal court. They had also hoped to raise money from Lombard.
