The Brussels prosecutor’s office has brought charges of corruption, bribery and money laundering to former chief of the federal judicial police Glenn Audenaert. The Brussels Times Belgian news website reports.
Since 2011, Audenaert has been a fervent proponent of the police headquarters relocation from the red light district to the National Administrative Center (RAC), an immense office complex owned by Dutch real estate magnate Frank Zweegers. In 2013, some 2,000 police officers moved into the building, taking up 100,000 square-metres, which the federal police rented from Zweegers.
At the same time, this move was criticized by the Belgian society, and the actual costs far outweighed even the worst estimates.
Investigators found that Audenaert had received a reward of 100 thousand euros for his lobbying work in pushing through the move to the RAC from Zweegers, who benefited from work carried out at public expense.
The investigation into Audenaert has been going on since 2015, but formal charges were postponed due to procedural irregularities.
Audenaert was the police commissioner for about 12 years, until he resigned in 2012.
