The chairman of the Belgian KBC bank, Mr Remi Vermeiren, has been charged, along with 10 other people, in a case involving alleged tax fraud between Belgium and Luxembourg, the Brussels prosecutor's office said yesterday. The latest charges, which include fraud, money laundering and related tax evasion accusations, bring the total of people indicted to 37, is part of an investigation opened in 1996 by Belgian judge Jean-Claude Leys.

The inquiry was launched on suspicions of a systematic collaboration between KBC and the Kredietbank of Luxembourg (KBLux), aimed at helping customers of the Belgian bank to evade taxes in their home country.

KBC's interest in Ireland includes the former Ulster Bank Investment Managers, which it bought last May, FBD Insurance, Irish Life Finance and IIB Bank (formerly Irish Intercontinental Bank), which it has owned since the late 1970s.

KBC has denied any wrongdoing and said that it had observed legal and regulatory requirements. KBC and KB Lux are both subsidiaries of the Belgian financial holding group, Almanij.