Court rules that former minister must repay more than 600,000 euros to friends and acquaintances from whom he borrowed money

635,992.47 euro is the total amount that the former Christian democrat politician Luc Martens has to pay back to ten friends and acquaintances from whom he had borrowed money. To four of these he will have to pay back the money alone, the six others are to be reimbursed by both Mr Martens and his wife.

The sum that is to be repaid comprises the amount lent to the Martens’ plus interest. Lawyers representing Mr Martens and his wife had asked the court to lower the rate of interest on the amount they had lend. However the court has not done this.

Earlier this month, the same court made a similar ruling. This concerned 260,000 euro that Mr Martens owes to his creditors.

In recent months it has emerged that Mr Martens is, to put it mildly, in financial difficulty. He is said to have borrowed a total of more than 3 million euro from friends and acquaintances. He repeatedly promised to pay back the money quickly, but these promises were not honoured. His creditors saw little if any of their money again.

There is also a criminal investigation underway against the former minister. Meanwhile, Luc Martens has also filed a complaint for fraud. Mr Martens alleges that he  was scammed more than two years ago when he was trading crypto coins. This, he says is the reason why he needed to borrow money.