The Luxembourg company Avrox, known for supplying 15 million mouth masks to Belgium in 2020at the start of the health crisis, was declared bankrupt on October 17, indicates the website of the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises du Grand-Duché.
The federal government may find itself unable to claim compensation for this purchase which hit the headlines and is the subject of an investigation by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office for forgery, use of forgery, fraud and money laundering, said Wednesday MP Michael Freilich (N-VA), who is following this file closely.
“I pointed out the fraudulent nature of Avrox from the start. It was predictable that they would now want to run away from their responsibilities“, he told the Belga agency.
At the end of April 2020, in the midst of a health crisis, the Wilmès government had promised a fabric mask for each Belgian. The Ministry of Defense then launched a call for tenders and finally chose two companies: the Luxembourg company Avrox and the Ghent company Tweed&Cotton. The first had been awarded a delivery of 15 million masks, while the second would provide three million, for a total amount of 32 million euros.
But justice was interested the following year in Avrox, conducting searches in May 2021 in several European countries. Two people had been deprived of their liberty, including the boss of Avrox, Laurent Hericord, before being released. But last August, Mr. Hericord had been arrested again and placed under arrest warrant for having violated the conditions of his provisional release and for having committed new forgeries.
The company was declared bankrupt on October 17 by the Luxembourg district court, according to the website of the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises grand-ducale.