A senior government official has called a new amnesty on dirty money to bring billions of euros in hidden bank accounts back into the legal economy.

In an interview with De Tijd, Steven Vanden Berghe, a senior civil servant with the federal finance ministry, argues there are billions of undeclared euros in ordinary accounts with Belgian banks. But the money lies untouched because account holders would face prosecution if it ever emerged.

In present circumstances, he said, it is almost impossible to bring money from a bank in Luxembourg or Switzerland without having to pay tax plus a penalty – or “regularisation” as it is called.

Bringing money in from tax havens is even more difficult.

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