BRUSSELS – Two civil servants and a clothes retailer in Charleroi have been charged with corruption, it was reported on Wednesday.

The trio was arrested on Monday after an investigation that is understood to have been under way since November, involving 30 detectives.

One of the civil servants was a leading VAT inspector and the other worked for the judicial section of the Finance Ministry which recovers money owed to the state.

Charleroi’s public prosecuting office told La Libre Belgique that the VAT inspector is suspected of accepting “consumer goods”.

Fiscal specialist Henri Hanse said the inspector is not believed at this stage to have accepted money, but the goods – understood to be clothes – were “not small presents”.

The second inspector is charged with receiving millions of euros from the clothes retailer.

Both inspectors have been charged with breaching their professional code and “passive” corruption.

The clothes retailer is alleged to have bribed the two men and to have taken stock from bankrupt shops to sell it on to other businesses.

The men are due to appear in court on Friday.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news