Ex-EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders Accused of Money Laundering worth €1 Million

Ex-EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders is accused of laundering €1 million via lottery tickets, investigations uncovered cash payments & financial misconduct during his tenure as National Lottery overseer.

These e-ticket vouchers, valued between 1 & 100 Euros, are available at different National Lottery sales points with the winnings reportedly placed into the former commissioner’s digital account at the National Lottery and then transferred to his personal bank account, according to media sources.

The investigation, that Brussels prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw launched, is based on reports from the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTIF) and the National Lottery during Reynders’ term (2007-2011) and is expected to last at least until 2023, when he was a member of von der Leyen’s team.

This finding raises many questions about Reynder’s financial activities and the use of cash to purchase lottery tickets. For this purpose, Belgian authorities also investigated Reynder’s residency and asked him a few questions but didn’t arrest him.

Police found an additional €800,000 in secret payments made over 15 years. These payments started before 2010. Reynder started money laundering during his tenure as Minister for National Lottery and continued till last year.

Media sources also reported that an investigation has been underway for many months. However, investigators reportedly waited until the conclusion of Reynders’ term as European Commissioner to initiate formal proceedings. The end of his EU immunity coincided with the end of his term, allowing for the commencement of the investigation.

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Is this the End of Didier Reynders’ Career?

Reynders was a Belgian federal minister for 20 consecutive years before electing as a European Commissioner, also known as the famous Reformist Movement (MR) figure. However, his political career is now at stake due to his involvement in illegal suspicious activities.

After two unsuccessful attempts to secure the general secretariat of the Council of Europe which is the continent’s principal body for monitoring human rights, Reynder faced another setback.

Georges-Louis Bouchez, Reynder’s party president, didn’t nominate Reynder as Belgium’s commissioner in the “von der Leyen II European Commission”. Instead, he appointed “Hadja Lahbib,” which deeply disappointed Reynder.

From 1999 – 2011, Didier Reynders served as Finance Minister and was responsible for the National Lottery.  Later, he was appointed to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs during 2011 – 2019. Recently, he also served as the “European Commissioner for Justice”, as the media states.