On Wednesday, at the request of Liège investigating judge Frédéric Frenay, the ecofin section of the Federal Judicial Police of Liège carried out five searches, the most resounding of which was held in Brussels, in the premises of the Wallonia Brussels Federation ( FWB). At issue is a suspicion of fraud in the granting of subsidies for the benefit of the Red Falcons, a socialist youth movement. At the same time, home visits were also carried out at the head office of the Faucons Rouges, in Huy, but also at the homes of several administrators of the movement and at the home of an FWB official who was in charge of preparing the subsidy files. In addition to Brussels and Huy, these searches took place in Seneffe, Rebecq and Nivelles. In total, four people were initially deprived of their liberty for questioning.
But what do we blame them for? In fact, to benefit from a subsidy, youth movements must have at least 25 local sections and 1,500 members. To obtain these affiliations and attest to them to the FWB, those in charge of the Red Falcons are suspected of having fraudulently inflated the registrations with eccentric identities. Thanks to this and since 2009, when this was not justified, the Red Falcons have benefited from annual subsidies for a fraudulent total estimated, for the moment at 4.2 million euros!
Thus, just for 2022, the Red Falcons received 340,000 euros to which they would not be entitled.
Created in 1928
In the end, of the five people arrested, two were deprived of their liberty and brought before the investigating judge. At the time of writing these lines, the Liège magistrate had yet to take action.
This is because the investigation is only just beginning and it is still far too early to know whether the people incriminated acted to fill the movement’s coffers or whether it is a question of personal enrichment.
Let us point out in this regard that the file was opened last March, following the appointment of an external auditor mandated within the framework of another file relating to, let’s say… interested, management of one of the directors who had a little light-handed… with the youth movement credit card…
The Red Falcons Youth Movement welcomes all children from the age of 6 in mixed groups divided into local sections located throughout Wallonia and Brussels. Born from the working class more than ninety years ago (in 1928), the Movement recognizes itself as heir to the socialist and democratic values which guided the founders of the Red Falcons of Belgium.
