Belgian postal worker in fraud of the century

12 February 2004

BRUSSELS – A lowly worker at the financial services department of the Belgian post office has admitted embezzling a staggering EUR 12.5 million in under two months, Brussels magistrates confirmed on Thursday.

Geert Saelen, who ironically worked in the fraud office of the financial services department, is accused of making nine separate illegal withdrawals from clients’ accounts, totalling EUR 12.5 million.

Most of the money was to be transferred to accounts in Germany and Morocco, investigators say.

Alarm bells first began ringing in early January when inspectors found that EUR 3 million had been siphoned off of an account belonging to the Belgian food safety agency.

But as their investigations progressed the authorities discovered a trail of illegal withdrawals from other customers that led back to Saelen.

The postal worker, whose net monthly salary totalled around EUR 1, 500, has admitted to fraud charges but claims members of an illegal prostitution network forced him to make the illegal transfers.

Subject: Belgian news