Fraud with regard to inheritance duties

2 October 2015

The Federal Judicial Police of Nivelles investigated a Dutch national who had been living in Belgium (paying taxes in our country) and who had died in Portugal leaving behind an inheritance valued at approximately EUR 275 million. His wife had tried to block the inheritance of their two children by means of various fraudulent transactions and had declared the inheritance in Portugal, where the costs are significantly lower than the costs in Belgium.

The investigators found a part of the patrimony that had been deposited on Swiss bank accounts opened on behalf of offshore companies, including 179,360,435 euros, 7,700,627 US dollars, 4,384,330 Canadian dollars and 70,516 pounds sterling. The prejudice caused to the Belgian State would amount to some 70 million euros.