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Approximately €48 billion has been invested by Belgian nationals in Luxembourg companies, many of which are "letter-box" firms.
This is what emerges from an investigation carried out by the Belgian dailies, Le Soir and De Tijd, which describe Luxembourg as a "tax garden".
About 60% of the 100 richest families in Belgium and even 80% of the 50 most wealthy have set up one or more companies in Luxembourg. Two times out of three, these are "letter box" companies.
The cumulative share capital of these companies is over €48 billion and they hold assets worth nearly €54 billion.
Among the well-known people and companies names, there are the Belgian shareholders of the AB-Inbev brewery, the Vandemoortele family as well as Jan de Nul, the well-known maritime infrastructure magnate.
Le Soir and De Tijd based their research on data stored within the Luxembourg trade registry, of which they analysed 1.5 million records.
