© Diana Hoffmann
The Asset Management Office (Bureau de Gestion des Avoirs – BGA) has only existed for three years and is responsible, among other things, for managing seized and confiscated goods.
According to a recently published report, the BGA, which operates under the Justice Ministry, managed 6,700 items in December last year, with an estimated value of nearly €1.5 billion. In addition, 600 confiscated items worth €2.7 million were sold.
The large storage facilities at Sanem are thus filled to the brim with all kinds of objects: garden furniture, computers, bicycles, bags, scooters, as well as motorcycles and cars. Even trucks are stored there.
"These can be items seized to be used as evidence in a trial. But you also have goods that are illegal, or illicit”, explains Michel Turk, Director of the BGA. As an example, he mentions dried cannabis plants, which were likely found in large quantities at a private residence.
Stolen goods whose owners are unknown are also stored in the same warehouses. How long the seized items remain there differs.
"They are kept until either a magistrate, the investigating judge during the seizure, decides that they can be sold or destroyed. Or we wait until the trial is completed and a final verdict is issued”, Turk clarifies. Depending on the decision, items are either confiscated and become state property, or returned to their rightful owner.
The proceeds from the sale go into a fund to combat various forms of crime or into the state budget. Items that have no value are destroyed, Turk explains. However, the "items" with the largest values are not stored here. A large part of seizures in Luxembourg are related to economic affairs, where financial products are seized.
Currently, the total value of seized items in stock is €1.4 billion, according to the BGA director. Around €500 million are in current accounts, and another €500 million in financial products such as shares or bonds. These, too, must be managed by BGA staff.
Taking up the most space in the warehouses are the more than 1,000 cars on the site, some of which are stacked four rows high.
"We are gradually recovering the seizures from before 2022, before we took over. That means it is normal that we are still in a phase where the number of cases will continue to rise over the next few years”, says Michel Turk.
Once these older cases are resolved, the situation should stabilise. However, it is certain that in many cases it takes years before a final verdict is issued in court. In most cases, nothing happens with the respective items until then.
According to the Director, there are currently so many cars on the site because very few seized vehicles are being managed and very few decisions are made to allow them to be sold.
If a verdict later rules in favour of the owner, the owner would receive the proceeds from the sale rather than the car itself, which may have lost significant value over the years.
