EU embroiled in yet another scandal as former justice chief investigated for money laundering
The European Union has been hit with another scandal as the outgoing justice commissioner is under investigation for money laundering.
Didier Reynders’ home and other addresses linked to him were raided by Belgian police on Tuesday.
It has been reported that investigators waited until the politician lost the immunity he held owing to his commissioner role before raiding his home.
The 66-year-old is a former centre-Right Belgian finance and foreign minister and is reportedly suspected of buying lottery tickets with dubious money to launder the money back into his account.
Reynders served as justice commissioner from 2019 to 2024, during Ursula von der Leyen’s first term as head of the EU executive and was responsible for ensuring the rule of law was upheld in EU member states.
Follow The Money and the Belgian newspaper, Le Soir reported the raids came after a months-long investigation into suspected money laundering.
Detectives had been tipped off by the National Lottery and a government agency where transactions related to possible money laundering can be reported.
Prosecutors in Brussels confirmed the money laundering investigation but refused to comment further, according to Follow The Money, which could not immediately reach Reynders for comment.
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Fellow European lawmakers and diplomats were quick to react to the news. Mateusz Morawiecki, the former prime minister of Poland of conservative party PiS, wrote on X: “Mr Rule of Law from Brussels is currently unavailable to lecture Poland on how the justice system should function.”
EU lawmaker Daniel Freund from the Greens said: “What a mess.”
He also raised several questions regarding the investigation, including whether he’s also being investigated for potential misconduct at the Commission, and whether there was any connection between his work and the alleged crime.
Eurosceptic MEPs took this opportunity to take a swing at the EU. Kinga Gál, vice-president of Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Fidesz party said that the accusations are “the latest chapter of Brussels’ hypocrisy.”
She added: “Instead of attacking Member States on ideological grounds, Brussels should first get its own house in order.”
Reynders was first elected to the Belgian parliament in 1992 and held continual ministerial posts in successive governments from 1999 to 2019, including deputy prime minister, finance and foreign minister
Nicknamed “Teflon Didier” in his home country, he led the MR to victory in Belgium’s general election in 2007 in a spell at the helm of the liberal pro-business party that lasted from 2004 to 2011.
He became infamous in Britain after he was interviewed on French television in blackface in 2015, during his stint as Belgium’s foreign minister.
Reynders was overlooked for a second term in the commission by his party. He told Belgian media he felt “deep disappointmen”” after the lucrative position was awarded instead to Hadja Lahbib, Belgium’s outgoing foreign minister.