Two further suspects have been charged in the ongoing criminal investigation into alleged money laundering by the former European Commissioner and Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders (Francophone liberal). The two are both from Mr Reyders’ entourage. The news was first reported by the investigative news medium Nationale 4 and has since been confirmed by the prosecutor’s office.
For many years Jean-Claude Fontinoy was a confident of Mr Reynders and is a former chairman of the Belgian rail company NMBS. Mr Fontinoy’s former chauffeur says that he drove Mr Fontinoy to the Zavel, an area of Brussels with a lot of antique shops, where he bought art.
All of this was paid for in cash. One shop that was always visited was that of the other suspect that has now been charged, Olivier Theunissen.
1 million euro in total
Didier Reynders is alleged to have laundered cash by purchasing products from the Belgian National Lottery to a value of 200,000 euro. He allegedly put his winnings onto his bank account thus laundering the money.
The investigation is about sums of cash Mr Reynders put onto his ING account between 2008 and 2018. All of the sums were relatively small but amounted to a total of 700,000 euro. With the money he spent on scratch cards, almost 1 million euro was allegedly laundered. Mr Reynders was officially charged last November.
The Brussels Prosecutor’s Office is carrying out a separate investigation in ING’s role in the case. The bank didn’t start asking questions until 2018 and didn’t inform the Financial Information Processing Cell (CFI) until 2023. Banks are obliged to inform the CFI of any suspect financial transactions straight away.