LETTER FROM BENELUX

It's "the affair that's staggering Belgium," wrote the daily La Libre Belgique on January 30. Didier Reynders, 66, Belgian minister for 20 years, president of the French-speaking Liberal Party for seven years, and former European commissioner for justice from 2019 to 2024, is indeed staggering. "When I heard about this, I fell out of my chair," a member of his party, the Mouvement Réformateur, told Le Monde, stunned, like many others, by the questioning of this politician who has been at the forefront for almost 40 years. Reynders had headed public administrations before moving on to important federal departments (finance, foreign affairs, defense).

On December 4, 2024, the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed that an investigation had been opened against the politician, currently without a mandate. The day before, the federal police had searched his home in Uccle and his second home in the province of Liège. The judicial authorities had been alerted by the National Lottery and anti-fraud services, who suspected money laundering. Winnings, obviously lower (by 40% on average) than the amounts invested but laundered, were then paid into the bank account of the person concerned.

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