2023-10-16 07:37:00
According to them, someone found a way to access the safes they were renting and managed to open them without the knowledge of the staff, and without leaving any trace. This allegedly happened several times between 2006 and 2014 and if we are talking regarding it today, it is because an investigation took place and this has now been completed. The case was under investigation in Brussels with judge Ms. Tassin. The investigation focused on six alleged facts in five Brussels branches of Fortis BNP Paribas.
585,000 euros of various values were allegedly stolen from six safes, including 235,000 euros in cash, to the detriment of a dentist, two restaurateurs, a nurse and Alain Talloen, a retired police officer. It was the latter, Alain Talloen, who set everything in motion.
For its part, BNP Fortis Paribas refuses to comment, both because the bank does not comment on its relations with customers and because criminal proceedings are underway.
The name of a Jettois locksmith appeared in the investigation. The Brussels council chamber will have to decide whether to send him back or not. The person concerned denies and the prosecution of the king’s prosecutor, who considers the evidence insufficient, will request the dismissal of the case. In terms of justice, the case began at the end of 2013. Ten years later, the risk of statute of limitations is high.
Twist
Does the case come down to six victims. We can doubt it. The publication of the article this Friday earned us several reactions. We will remember the following message: “I read your article in the weekend’s DH. I myself was robbed of 100,000 euros in denominations of 500 euros in the safe that I rented at the Fortis BNP Paribas agency from Stockel (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre). It was ten years ago. There had been work in the safe room and I immediately understood that there was a problem. Several safes had been emptied but no customer filed a complaint because the amounts were unprovable and the safes were not broken. Mr Talloen (editor’s note, this former police officer who says he lost 40,000 euros in a safe) has all my support and that of my family who lost all his savings.
The author of the message might be contacted on Sunday. We do not doubt his good faith.
He requested anonymity. According to him, the period coincides with that of the other flights – “this happened in 2013”. It was, as in the other cases, a BNP Paribas Fortis agency in Brussels. No signs of break-in were visible. And as in the Talloen case, the 100,000 euros that disappeared in his safe were made up of 500 euro notes. Between five and ten customers had been victims of similar thefts. And we instead tried to dissuade them from filing complaints. “Before making accusations, find out who had access to the safe. Your wife, for example, might also use the key, right? Check with her.”
Customers might not prove the amount of securities deposited. Some income may not have been reported. In short, none, in the end, would have filed a complaint. Nobody talked regarding it. And the bank, to the knowledge of our interlocutor, “made no action”.
The weekend’s article brought back this bad memory. “I had lost all our savings and I saw no recourse, I was stuck.”
He remembers older clients “collapsed, crying”: they had lost money they were counting on for their old age.
The Brussels council chamber examines the case on Tuesday. For the prosecution, the investigation did not make it possible to identify an author – the author, he said, remained “unknown”, and the charges were “insufficient”. Faithful to its confidentiality policy, BNP Fortis Paribas decided last week not to react.
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