Pessleux has built up the loyalty of a large customer base based on this determining variable: price. Systematically, the prices displayed for a liter of diesel and gasoline are among the cheapest in this very fluctuating market.
Has this thriving local business, ignoring the crises, limited to three service stations coupled with a car wash, crossed a red line? The investigation is ongoing. But, as a precaution, L’Avenir was informed of the seizure of cars and real estate.
A few weeks ago, in mid-October, marking tapes prohibited customer access to the three Pessleux pumps. A sudden closure, without notice and without explanation from their operators. The bright price display boards have gone out and may not be lit up again any time soon.
In Fosses-la-Ville, where the Pessleux, rather jack-of-all-trades, do business – (a dairy in their name grinds butter there) – rumor has it that they have been put behind bars. As we will read elsewhere, if they were, they are no longer. But what do we blame them for? At a minimum, to have disposed of white diesel resulting from discoloration of the red heating diesel.
The Belgian state cheated of €25 million
Playing on the color of fuel oil is an old and classic fraud due to a differentiated excise rate. Colored (red) heating oil is less taxed than white driving oil. It is the introduction of the dye which makes it possible to catch and fine the fraudsters, who are more motorists than gas station attendants. It all started with an investigation into a massive fraud on a national scale since the mastermind of the scam is based in Flanders, as evidenced by the fact that it was the federal judicial police of Limburg who seized it and that an investigating judge in Tongeren was seized.
Recently, in mid-October, around 300 police officers struck hard among fuel oil suppliers and resellers. They simultaneously carried out 61 searches and subsequently arrested 20 suspects linked to two criminal organizations. Customs estimates that at least 30 million liters of adulterated fuel oil were injected into traffic.
The sealing of the Pessleux pumps follows this wave of seizures and arrests. By ramification, the investigators went back to Pessleux, whose three stations were identified as having served discolored diesel, in the process evading excise duties and cheating the Belgian State. The shortfall is colossal, estimated at €25.5 million.
As independent operators, the Pessleux have the freedom to choose their suppliers and to buy from the cheapest, including those who are less particular about quality, we suppose. They are silent in all languages but their line of defense would consist of pleading ignorance regarding the fraudulent nature of the fuel oil supplied. They present themselves as collateral victims of a large-scale scam which involved them despite themselves.
This is not the first time that diesel sold at Pessleux has been the subject of complaints. In 2021, motorists, after having filled up on it, then faced with engine failures, had blamed diesel on social networks. But, after analysis, nothing could be proven.
Related News :