The scaffolding company that is owned by the reality TV star Michel Vanden Brande has been defrauded to the tune of tens of thousands of euro by a member of staff. Mr Vanden Brande, who appears in the commercial television channel Play 4’s ‘The Sky is the Limit’ smelled a rat when his company’s monthly turnover suddenly fell from 1 million to 18,000 euro.
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Reality TV star’s business defrauded of tens of thousands of euro by member of staff
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In December Michel Vanden Brande took on a new project leader to work for his scaffolding company Kontrimo. Mr Vanden Brande told VRT News that “Everything looked fine at the start, he talked the talk. He was a hard work, certainly at the start.
"He was at his desk from 6am until 10pm. After a couple of months, he gave me some tips on how to pay less or even no advance on my VAT payments". Michel Vanden Brande trusted the man and put him in charge of the company’s accounts.
Drastic fall in turnover
However, Mr Vanden Brande smelled a rat when turnover at his company fell from 1 million euro per month to just 18,000 euro.
"This man has seriously defrauded us. We brought in a team of external accountants that contacted 600 building sites in order to estimate how much damage has been done”.
"We still don’t know where the money has gone, but in the meantime I still have to pay my fixed expenditure that is around 700,000 euro/month. I have already had to sell two cars and borrow money from my son to be able to pay everything. That man could have made my company that I have spend years building up go bankrupt in just a few months. We acted just in time”.
The person that allegedly defrauded Mr Vanden Brande’s company has several previous convictions for similar offences. In May a court in Dendermonde (East Flanders) sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment, a 10-year-ban on working in jobs that involve money and an 8,000-euro fine.