According to research firm Graydon, ten to fifteen percent of the money is misused. Some of that money ends up in the wrong place, sometimes in the criminal environment or with fraudsters, and often also with companies that were on the verge of going bankrupt before the crisis. The support from the government is so massive that abuse is almost inevitable, especially in the first phase, during the lockdown in the spring. 

Research firm Graydon specializes in recognizing accounting and other behavioral patterns that indicate crime. To get the abuse figure as accurately as possible, Graydon conducted a sample of 95.000 Flemish companies that received support from the authorities. The VRT / NWS service establishes the question whether all the money ends up properly. And a series of measures came: nuisance premium, compensation premium, support premium, bridging right, temporary unemployment, postponement of payments - too many to mention.

ghost and zombie businesses

And then there are the so-called zombie companies. These are companies that are still active but have negative equity. This is not necessarily cheating, but it can also be companies that are completely drained by foreign companies.

Also read: Zombie companies are not helping the taxi industry after the crisis