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By Belga
The Liège Council Chamber on Monday ordered the transfer to the Liège Criminal Court of six transport companies and four people suspected of social fraud and human trafficking. More than 180 worker-drivers employed by three Belgian companies, based in Waremme, have been fraudulently declared in Slovakia.
The case was revealed in January 2015 after the injury suffered by one of the drivers. The labor inspectorate investigated the case and denounced human trafficking and social fraud carried out by three companies active in international road transport and based in Waremme. These three family-owned companies are suspected of using fictitious companies based in Slovakia to hire drivers and divert ONSS amounts. 183 worker drivers are concerned.
Three Belgian companies (one of which went bankrupt), three other Slovaks and four natural persons had appeared before the Council Chamber. The latter decided on a general referral to the Criminal Court.
According to the lawyers of the defendants, a fundamental question will be asked when examining the merits of the case, concerning the application by Belgium of the Belgian legislation and not of the European legislation.
Because of the amount of the evaded contributions, which would amount to two million euros, the case could have very significant financial consequences in terms of fines in case of conviction of the companies involved.
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