Following a wave of searches carried out within the road transport sector, at least three people — including the CEO of the company Jost — have been placed in preventive detention.

The nine charges brought against him are: leader of a criminal organization, human trafficking, money laundering, forgery and use of forged social documents, fraud under social criminal law, failure to declare immediate employment, inaccurate or incomplete declarations regarding social security contributions, non-payment of contributions to the NSSO, and failure to pay wages as an employer.

There have been no indictments nor convictions so far. LThe arrest follows a large-scale search operation conducted by 80 inspectors from the federal judicial police and 40 members of various social and tax inspection services. Jost is suspected of engaging in social dumping. Workers are allegedly recruited in Eastern Europe and employed in Belgium under the working conditions of their country of origin. The case reportedly involves around 1,100 employees. In a statement, the Jost Group emphasizes that it is fully compliant and is cooperating with the authorities. As a reminder — although no specific details are known regarding the wages paid to the company’s workers — the minimum wage in Romania is €275 per month, compared with €1,560 in Belgium. Employing workers in Belgium at wages equivalent to those in Eastern Europe places them in severe precarity, which is considered a form of human trafficking.In 2013, the Council of Ministers approved an “action plan” to combat social dumping. In many cases, it was found that the wages paid to foreign workers were below the Belgian minimum wage and that their social security coverage was not guaranteed. At the time, 1,500 searches were announced and financial sanctions were to be multiplied by ten. In Belgium, the construction sector is the most affected by this type of social fraud.
La Libre: https://lc.cx/wzso Le Soir: https://lc.cx/wzs3
L’Echo: https://lc.cx/wzs5
2013 article on Belgium’s fight against social dumping / RTBF: https://lc.cx/wzsJ