BRUSSELS: Player agent Christophe Henrotay in Monaco and  his brother-in-law and close associate Christophe Cheniaux in Liège have been charged over alleged transfer irregularities.

Searches were carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday in Monaco, Liege and London into allegations of money laundering, bribery, criminal conspiracy and forgery. In Monaco,  €7m, three luxury vehicles and two apartments were seized.

The searches were approved by a Brussels investigating judge by the Central Organ of Repression of the Corruption in collaboration with the Federal Judicial Police of Liège, the Monegasque Police, the Metropolitan Police and the British HM Revenue & Customs.

The investigation, which initially targeted the transfer in 2015 of Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic from Anderlecht (Belgium) to Newcastle (England), had already resulted in a series of raids on April 24 in Belgium, but there was no arrest.

This was a second wave of searches after a first sweep in April at the offices of record champions Anderlecht and the Belgian Football Union .

According to information from RTBF, player agent Henrotay was detained in Monaco, suspected of having received “fraudulent retro-commission”.

Henrotay is one of Belgium’s leading agents whose clients include Thibaut Courtois, Yannick Carrasco  and Kevin Mirallas. He was formerly agent of Yuri Tielemans, Romelu Lukaku,  Leander Dendoncker  and Michy Batshuayi.

A second person reportedly arrested was Christophe Cheniaux, Henrotay’s brother-in-law and principal collaborator.

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