BRUSSELS: Lokeren coach Peter Maes has been released on bail after being charged with various offences in the matchfixing and fraud scandal which has rocked Belgian football.

Maes has been charged with “money laundering and involvement in a criminal organization,” according to local media report of judicial sources.
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The 54-year-old former goalkeeper of Anderlecht and Standard Liege, has been Lokeren coach since the summer of 2017. The club are next to bottom of the Jupiler Pro League. He has reported links with agent Dejan Veljkovic, another of the accused.
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Investigators suspect Maes, like Brugge’s Croat coach Ivan Leko, with having benefited from suspicious tax benefits.
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Maes was detained on Monday and his club now expect him to resume his duties while being prohibited from contacting the press. Some 20 people, including club officials, ‘ agents, two referees and a player, have been charged in the case which also concerns two matches supposedly arranged for the benefit of FC Mechelen in the spring. Nine of the accused are still in detention.
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A further complication concerns the original investigating judge, Joris Raskin, whose status has been challenged because of his work until March 2018 for the Belgian FA of which he remains a member of a federation licensing commission. Maes was charged by another investigating judge who has been appointed to take over the case on an interim basis.
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