Belgian judge says Nyrstar suspect of forgery, false accounting

Belgian investigators have formally placed Nyrstar under suspicion of alleged forgery, the use of false annual accounts and the misuse of corporate assets, deepening a long-running criminal probe into the Trafigura-owned metals producer.

The investigating judge overseeing the case in Antwerp informed Nyrstar NV of the suspicions, the company said Monday. Nyrstar said it has not been granted access to the criminal file and therefore cannot comment on the substance of the allegations or the facts underlying them. The company said it continues to cooperate with authorities.

Nyrstar said it could not comment on the allegations because it has not yet been granted access to the criminal file.

The development marks a significant escalation in a case that has been publicly discussed for years by minority shareholders and Belgian media following Nyrstar’s controversial restructuring and transfer of assets to Trafigura. 

While the investigating judge directs complex criminal investigations, any decision on charges or prosecution remains for judicial authorities at a later stage.

Reports in June 2024 indicated the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office had referred the matter to an investigating judge, with the probe focusing on two potential offences: alleged forgery and the use of forged annual accounts, and the alleged misuse of corporate assets.

Separately, Belgium’s financial regulator (FSMA) concluded in September 2025 that Nyrstar breached certain market-abuse and disclosure rules relating to information about its liquidity position before its restructuring. The regulator imposed an €80,000 ($92,000) fine but dismissed several other allegations and cleared directors of personal involvement in the proven infringement. The administrative proceeding was separate from the criminal investigation.

Jurisdiction shift

The news comes weeks after Trafigura announced plans to move Trafigura Beheer BV, the holding company through which employees own shares in the commodities trader, from the Netherlands to Bermuda.

The company has not publicly explained the rationale for the proposed relocation. The move followed the introduction of a growing number of European Union regulations affecting multinational businesses, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which can expose large companies to penalties of up to 5% of global turnover for compliance failures.

Trafigura has previously faced legal scrutiny in the Netherlands. In 2010, a Dutch court fined the company for illegally exporting toxic waste that was later dumped in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Dutch prosecutors also investigated a roughly $500,000 payment made by the company in Jamaica in 2006 as part of a suspected bribery case.