Police found thousands of euros in cash when they searched former European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders’ home in Belgium’s Uccle district and country house in Vissoul, according to Belgian media Le Soir.
Reynders is facing allegations of money laundering via the Belgian National Lottery.
Flemish media De Standaard reported on December 6 the amount discovered in the December 3 raids was around €7,000.
Despite the find, Le Soir said on December 6 the amount was not “necessarily problematic”, given to the politician’s affluent lifestyle. He was Justice Commissioner until stepping down at the end of November.
According to the paper and Follow The Money, a Dutch investigative news website, Reynders allegedly used electronic lottery tickets to handle large amounts of money, raising suspicions of allegedly illicit transactions.
An investigation was launched in 2023, prompted by a report submitted by the Financial Information Processing Unit (CFI) and the National Lottery itself, which had detected suspicious transactions involving e-tickets and other gambling products.
The scheme under investigation indicated that Reynders allegedly systematically purchased electronic tickets, with values of up to €100 each, using his account in the National Lottery’s digital system.
Although spending is limited to €500 per week, sources close to the case alleged that the former Commissioner used other lottery products to circumvent this restriction. The winnings were allegedly subsequently transferred to his accounts, which raises suspicions.
According to public media RTBF, Reynders has to account for deposits totalling €1 million. He allegedly bough lottery tickets worth €200,000.
The issue of how these practices, if proven, could have gone unnoticed for so long also pointed to possible failures in financial supervisory systems at both national and European level, experts said.
From 1999 to 2011, Reynders was Minister of Finance in Belgium.
Subsequently, he held the Ministry of Foreign Affairs role until his move to the European Commission in 2019. In total, he accumulated two decades in strategic ministerial positions, including 15 years as deputy prime minister of the Belgian Liberal French-speaking Reformist Movement (RM) party.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
An alleged money laundering scheme tied to former European Commissioner Didier Reynders is uniquely shielded by a recent EU exemption for national lotteries. https://t.co/ktgaKTJRwk
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 5, 2024
