Former general manager of Anderlecht, Herman van Holsbeeck was arrested on Thursday in widening fraud sting. It's very sad to read something like this. You think those people who you see on TV as successful sportmen are honest and then this happens. When I saw the news I said to myself "I've seen this movie before".
The arrest follows that of a soccer agent Christophe Henrotay, who had been involved in a number of international transfers and counted Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and wingers Yannick Carrasco and Kevin Mirallas among his clients.
Belgian federal prosecutors have requested Henrotay's extradition after raids this week in Monaco, London and Liege in which two apartments, a boat, three luxury cars and 7 million euros ($7.7 million) were seized. source
It reminds me of a big scandal that happened in my country a few years back. Managers, football players and many others were arrested for fraud regarding transfers. These were people you could see in TV every day. There wasn't a day without them being mentioned in TV. Sports news were mostly about the luxury life they were living.
Then came a day when they were all questioned about players transfers, how those funds were handled and all hell broke lose. There were trials and convictions. Some of them got serious prison time. There were a few convicted even for attempting to bribe the judge.
As far as Herman van Holsbeeck is concerned, in my eyes he's innocent until proven guilty. That's how it works, the justice system has to do its job, investigate, indict if it's the case and convict if found guilty. I truly hope he isn't though as it would look very bad but I also know the Belgian justice system is a fair one and they don't just arrest someone unless there's plenty of evidence to support the accusations.
The biggest problem with this is that football too (just like many other sports) has become a huge business and has less to do with sport. I'm not complaining about football players salary here, I don't envy anyone for the money they are earning as long as it is earned fairly and legally. We are not talking about a dollar or two here, there are millions in this game transferred from one pocket into another.