Corporate criminal law
Your company is under investigation for fraud in Belgium. White collar crime defence starts at that moment, not in the courtroom. For the company or the director who has had an invitation to a police interview, or a search of the offices, we set out your rights, who decides on them, and what the time limits are.
Who runs the investigation, and what does that change for you?
In Belgium a preliminary investigation is run by the public prosecutor, and a judicial investigation by the investigating judge. That distinction decides who you ask for access to the criminal file. It also decides who you ask for a further investigative measure, or to lift a seizure. Both investigations are secret. Anyone who has to assist in them by profession is bound by that secrecy.
The company and its directors do not automatically share the same interests. Since 1 September 2026, the criminal liability of a legal person sits in article 18 of the new Criminal Code. It does not exclude the liability of whoever committed the same acts or took part in them. Where the prosecution runs against the company and against its representative for the same or connected acts, the competent court appoints an ad hoc representative. We wrote about this in The company before the criminal court.
The Code of Criminal Procedure itself has not been replaced. The text of 17 November 1808 remains in force. The new Criminal Code of 29 February 2024 took effect on 1 September 2026, and it renumbers the offences. A note written in 2025 on the same file therefore still carries the old numbering. Always ask which classification the prosecutor uses today.
What we take on in a white collar crime file
Our specialists assist companies and entrepreneurs at every stage of the investigation and the trial, from the first police interview to the settlement.
Police interview assistance
Have you received an invitation to a police interview? We prepare you and we sit with you during the interview.
Access to the criminal file
Are you involved in an investigation and do you want to know where it stands? We file the request.
Request for investigative measures
We examine with you whether further investigative measures can be requested during an investigation.
Request for the lifting of the seizure
Are your assets under seizure? We examine with you the routes to request the lifting of the seizure.
Criminal defence
For more than 20 years our specialists have assisted companies and entrepreneurs in criminal proceedings.
Assistance before the criminal court
Our team stays with you at every stage of the trial.
Criminal settlement (art. 216bis CIC)
Are you considering this route? We negotiate and we follow the confirmation by the court.
Tax regularisation
Use our long experience to guide your tax regularisation or your tax rectification.
What you can check yourself before you answer
Read the invitation line by line. If it sets out the rights of article 47bis, paragraph 2, the law assumes that you have already consulted a lawyer. If it does not, an adult suspect can have the interview postponed once, so that he can still exercise those rights. Check as well in what capacity the police are calling you.
A person who is not questioned as a suspect gets the shorter list of article 47bis, paragraph 1. That list carries no right to the assistance of a lawyer. If it emerges during the interview that acts may be charged against him, the officer must still give him the rights of paragraph 2. For a member of staff called as a witness, that shift is real. Agree in advance who gets called at that point.
Access to the criminal file does not arrive on its own. During a preliminary investigation the directly interested party asks the public prosecutor, who decides within four months. During a judicial investigation the request goes to the investigating judge, who decides no later than one month after entry in the register. A refusal by the investigating judge can be taken to the indictments chamber within eight days. Plan your defence around those periods.
A seizure of a bank account takes effect as soon as the bank receives the written notification. The lifting is asked of the investigating judge under article 61quater, or of the public prosecutor under article 28sexies. In both cases the decision has to come no later than fifteen days after the request is entered in the register.
Do not carry a dispute about irregularities through to the trial on the merits. The irregularities of article 131, paragraph 1, carry one condition. An appeal by the person charged is admissible only if he raised the point in written submissions before the council chamber. Where the indictments chamber has examined the regularity of the procedure, the same irregularities can no longer be raised before the trial judge.
Think early about an outcome away from the courtroom. The criminal settlement of article 216bis and the prior acknowledgement of guilt of article 216 each carry their own threshold. The court reviews both. We described the second route in I plead guilty.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to attend the police interview alone?
No. Article 47bis, paragraph 2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives a person questioned as a suspect the right to confidential consultation with a lawyer. That consultation comes before the interview, and the lawyer then sits in on it. That right applies as soon as the acts concern an offence punishable by a custodial sentence. In fraud files that threshold is usually met. No conviction may be based on statements taken in breach of that right.
How long can I be held?
A deprivation of liberty outside a case caught in the act may not exceed forty-eight hours. Only the public prosecutor takes that decision, or the investigating judge once the case is before him. A person deprived of liberty must be given confidential consultation with a lawyer within two hours of contact with the duty service. That consultation lasts thirty minutes. If it does not happen in that window, the interview cannot start without the effective assistance of the lawyer.
Can my company itself be prosecuted?
Yes. A legal person answers for offences that are intrinsically linked to its object or to its interests, or that were committed on its behalf. That is article 18 of the new Criminal Code, in force since 1 September 2026. That liability does not exclude the liability of whoever committed the same acts or took part in them. Where the prosecution runs against both, the competent court appoints an ad hoc representative.
How do I ask for the lifting of a seizure of my bank account?
The lifting is asked of the investigating judge under article 61quater, or of the public prosecutor under article 28sexies. In both cases the decision has to come no later than fifteen days after the request is entered in the register. A seizure of a bank account takes effect as soon as the bank receives the written notification.
When must I raise an irregularity in the investigation?
The irregularities of article 131, paragraph 1, carry one condition. An appeal by the person charged is admissible only if he raised the point in written submissions before the council chamber. Where the indictments chamber has examined the regularity of the procedure, the same irregularities can no longer be raised before the trial judge. Do not carry a dispute about irregularities through to the trial on the merits.
How late can a criminal settlement still be agreed?
It stays possible as long as no final judgment or final ruling has been given in the criminal case. That holds even after the investigating judge has been seized of it. For a natural person the act must not appear to call for a principal sentence of more than two years imprisonment. A heavier sentence rules the settlement out as well. For a legal person, a fine of more than 360,000 euros has been the limit since 1 September 2026. Damage caused to another must be fully compensated first.
What is the prior acknowledgement of guilt?
It sits in article 216 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Only the public prosecutor proposes it, on his own initiative or at the request of the suspect, the person charged, the defendant or their lawyer. Since 1 September 2026 it applies only to acts that do not appear to call for a level 4 sentence or heavier. The court confirms the agreement only after a proportionality check, and no appeal lies against that decision.