Ten years after the bankruptcy the former director of Optima Bank, Jeroen Piqueur, has been sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term as well as a €400,000 fine. The court in Ghent ordered the forfeit of several million euros. “The alleged fraud against his property clients has not been proved,” stated the judge. “But he acted for personal financial gain, had a dishonest mindset and his behaviour damaged the economic climate.”
Piqueur’s lawyer, Hans Rieder, spoke of “a tremendous success”: “Mr Piqueur has been acquitted of fraud, and the forfeiture order has been reduced from 35 million to 4 million. It is a success on all fronts. The facts point to a false accusation.”
Piqueur’s son was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 200,000 euros. He too has had 1.1 million euros confiscated, and, like his father, he has been banned from practising his profession for 10 years.
A former Belgian deputy prime minister and Optima Bank CEO Luc Van den Bossche (Flemish socialist) also stood trial. The judge accused him of encouraging staff to take on property-related tasks, even though they were not qualified to do so. For this, he was handed a suspended fine.
The Optima Saga
Optima originally started out as an asset management firm, a company that aims to optimise the wealth of affluent clients, but in 2011 Optima acquired the banking operations of insurer Ethias, thereby becoming a financial institution too. Optima Bank was born. In addition, there is also a sister company, Optima Global Estate, which focuses on property. Together, the two companies operated under the umbrella of the parent company, Optima Group.
But the group failed to generate financial success. Warning signs came from Belgium’s central bank, the National Bank, and after barely three years, Optima Bank decided to wind down its banking activities. Scandal erupted in 2016. During an audit, the National Bank discovered ‘serious irregularities’.
Majority shareholder Jeroen Piqueur is alleged to have set up “hidden and complex structures” to siphon money from Optima Bank to Optima Group and to Optima Global Estate.
The banking licence is revoked, savings accounts were frozen and, ultimately, Optima Bank went bankrupt.
A judicial investigation was launched. The file ran into tens of thousands of pages and was peppered with additional investigations and procedural issues. Ultimately, the case only came to court 10 years after the bankruptcy.