Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper): Belgian police have raided properties linked to former EU Commissioner Didier Renders over allegations of money laundering involving lottery winnings. The investigation follows reports from the National Lottery and has been ongoing for months.
Didier Reynders, the former EU Commissioner for Justice, is being investigated for money laundering linked to gambling activities. Police searched several of his properties on Tuesday and questioned him for hours, but he was not arrested. The investigation has been going on for months, and authorities waited until his term ended to act, which removed his legal protection. Didier Reynders is suspected of laundering money through the National Lottery, which he managed when he was Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011, but the alleged crimes did not occur during that time.
Is Didier Renders involved in money laundering through lottery activities?
Didier Reynders is accused of using cash to buy electronic lottery tickets, which he put into an online account to play games. He then moved his winnings into his personal bank account. This money laundering is said to have happened over a long time, but not while he was in charge of the Lottery. The Belgian authorities were alerted by the National Lottery and a financial intelligence unit that looks into suspicious transactions. Tax expert Michel Maus said that Reynders’ method is not new, as some people try to make illegal money look legal by claiming it comes from lottery wins, which banks check.
Gambling companies have rules to follow to prevent money laundering and must have systems to catch suspicious activities. Tax expert Maus said that a trick called “smurfing” is often used, where large sums of money are broken into smaller amounts to avoid being noticed. Even buying lots of scratch cards regularly can raise alarms. Didier Reynders hasn’t said anything about this issue. If authorities want to arrest him, they need permission from the Chamber, and the public prosecutor’s office says he is innocent until proven guilty.
