Frank Zweegers, owner of Dutch property company Breevast which is reportedly in talks to sell an office tower in Brussels to Irish investor Derek Quinlan for €1.3 bn, has been arrested in Italy on allegations of fraud.
Zweegers was arrested on the Italian island of Capri last week during a routine check of luxury yachts, which included his own vessel Unicorn. He is being sought by Belgian police for allegedly bribing a former police chief in 2013 to lobby for the national police headquarters to move to another building in Brussels, owned at the time by Breevast. The police section of that building, the RAC complex, has since been sold to Hannover Leasing and China’s Gingko Tree.
Zweegers, who acquired full control of developer Breevast in 2006 through his investment vehicle Cenocorp, has been transferred to the Poggioreale prison in Naples pending his extradition to Belgium. He has denied any wrongdoing and pledged his full cooperation with the investigation by the Belgian authorities.
In a statement issued on Monday, Breevast said that Zweegers had notified the Italian authorities immediately following his arrest that he wished to travel to Belgium to comply with the investigation order.
The company said that the legal probe is not new and that Zweegers had 'made himself available for interrogation' via his lawyer since 2012.
Dutch and Belgian media reports allege Zweegers paid former Belgian police chief Glenn Audenaert tens of thousands of euros in bribes to lobby for the police headquarters to relocate to the RAC complex in Brussels. Audenaert, who faces charges of forgery, money laundering and passive corruption, has admitted he received payment from Zweegers but that it was 'a present' from the Dutch property magnate.
Zweegers is said to be one of the richest men in the Netherlands with an estimated fortune of €245 mln, according to business magazine Quote.
Finance Tower deal
PropertyEU's sister publication EuroProperty reported in June that Breevast is in talks to sell the Finance Tower in Brussels, which forms part of the RAC complex, to Derek Quinlan for €1.3 bn. The Dutch company acquired the 31-storey, 200,000 m2 building in 2001 for €310 mln and subsequently spent €300 mln on its renovation.
Asked to comment on reports of the deal with Quinlan, a spokesman for Breevast said at the time: ‘Due to the current market circumstances Breevast is approached on a regular basis to assess whether it is interested in disposing of or more of its core assets. In relation to the Finance Tower, Breevast and its shareholder are currently exploring several strategic possibilities.’ CBRE is advising Breevast on the transaction.
If the Finance Tower deal goes ahead, it would be the largest in Belgian history and one of the largest single-asset deals in Europe this cycle after the Walkie-Talkie transaction in London and the sale of Coeur Défense in Paris.
