Belgian Police search two homes of former Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders for alleged money laundering

This Tuesday, the Belgian Police searched two homes of the former European Commissioner for Justice and mediator of the renewal of the Council of the Judiciary.Didier Reynderswho has been questioned in the framework of an investigation by money laundering through the purchase of a type of lottery during his term as minister.

The liberal, who was Foreign Minister between 2011 and 2019, is being investigated after a complaint from the Financial Information Processing Unit (Ctif) and the National Lottery for detecting suspicious transactions for a relatively high amount in lottery purchases.

The police operation takes place only three days after Reynders left office in the EU. As the investigation is focused on a period of time in which Reynders was a minister and later a European commissioner, for the moment he enjoys immunity and has not been arrested, as reported by ‘Le Soir’.

If the Brussels Prosecutor’s Office decides to pursue the case, it will have to ask the House of Representatives to rule on the matter. Reynders retired from the political scene after not being re-elected as commissioner in the new team led by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.