Didier Reynders, Belgium’s former deputy prime minister, ex-president of the MR party, and EU’s justice commissioner during Ursula von der Leyen’s first European Commission, has been formally charged with alleged money laundering.
According to reports from Le Soir, De Standaard, and Follow The Money, the charges stem from an investigation into the origin of nearly one million euros found in Reynders’s accounts and his possible involvement in the systematic purchase of a particular type of lottery ticket. He is not being held in custody, a source told Follow the Money.
Reynders was questioned on October 16th by investigating magistrate Olivier Leroux, who subsequently issued the charges, which also include one or more additional potential offenses whose precise legal classification remains unclear. The formal indictment, issued last October, has only now come to light through Belgian media reports. Reynders’ home was raided in December of 2024.
Reynders’s wife, Bernadette Prignon—an honorary magistrate at the Liège Court of Appeal—was also questioned shortly after her husband but has not been charged. The Brussels public prosecutor’s office, after consulting with the investigating magistrate, declined to confirm the information published by Le Soir and its partners.
