Former European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, indicted for money laundering through lottery tickets

Didier Reynders, former European Commissioner for Justice, was indicted for money laundering and other unspecified crimes, the Belgian press reports.

Didier Reynders, a Belgian liberal politician who until November 30, 2024 was European Commissioner for Justice, a position from which he supervised the observance of the rule of law in EU countries, has since been investigated for alleged money laundering committed through the purchase of lottery tickets.

The investigation was opened following a complaint filed by the Financial Information Processing Unit (CTIF) and the Belgian National Lottery, which detected suspicious transactions with large sums of money used to buy electronic lottery tickets, EFE and Agerpres press agencies note.

Meanwhile, in August this year, it was revealed that the Belgian Public Prosecutor's Office also opened an investigation into the ING bank in Belgium regarding possible influence peddling in connection with the same file of alleged money laundering.

Then, on October 16, Didier Reynders was formally charged in the case after being questioned by a prosecutor, according to Belgian publications Le Soir, Le Vif, De Standaard and investigative website Follow The Money.

Reynders' wife, Bernadette Prignon, an honorary judge at the Court of Appeal in the Belgian city of Liege, was also questioned shortly after him, but has not yet been charged, writes Le Soir.

Before becoming a European Commissioner, Didier Reynders was several times a minister in Belgian governments, namely Minister of Finance between 1999 and 2011, and then Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2011 and 2019.

This is not the first time he has faced money laundering charges, as such a case was also opened in his name six years ago, but was eventually closed due to lack of evidence.