Financial Crime World

Belgium’s Organized Crime Landscape: Key Findings and Challenges

Organized Crime Groups in Belgium

  • Mafia-style groups: Various groups, including biker gangs, engage in activities like arms and drug trafficking, as well as sexual exploitation.
  • Collaboration with Spanish criminal groups: Reports indicate that there is collaboration between Belgian mafia-style groups and Spanish criminal organizations.

State-Embedded Actors

  • Minimal influence: The report suggests that state-embedded actors have a minimal presence in Belgium’s organized crime landscape.
  • Overlapping membership concerns: There are concerns about potential overlap between lower-level state institutions and organized crime groups.

Private Sector Involvement

  • Limited involvement: While there is limited evidence of private sector involvement, reports suggest that some actors engage in money laundering schemes within and outside the country.

Leadership and Governance

  • Recognized issue: Belgium acknowledges organized crime as a significant problem and has taken steps to combat it.
  • Room for improvement: There is a need for greater transparency, integrity policies, and codes of conduct for parliamentarians and ministers.

Criminal Justice and Security

  • Independent judiciary: The Belgian judiciary is independent, but the federal and local police are understaffed due to budget cuts.
  • Insufficient resources: This makes it challenging for law enforcement agencies to effectively deal with organized crime at different levels.

Economic and Financial Environment

  • Mechanisms in place: Belgium has measures to combat money laundering, but the public prosecution office has faced criticism for prioritizing predicate offenses over money laundering.
  • Criticism of priorities: The focus on predicate offenses rather than money laundering has raised concerns about the effectiveness of these mechanisms.

Civil Society and Social Protection

  • Policies in place: Belgium has policies to assist victims of human trafficking and punish perpetrators.
  • Concerns about low participation: There are concerns about the low number of individuals who have entered the victim procedure, indicating a need for greater support and awareness.