In October 2008, it is alleged that Schouppe sold a packet of Dexia shares. According to leaks from the investigation, the sale took place shortly after the minister had taken part in a meeting of some of the bank’s largest – and most disgruntled – shareholders. Schouppe was close to the centre of the government’s handling of the banking crisis as a result of his understanding of complex financial dossiers.

In May 2009, Schouppe sold KBC shares just before it was announced the bank would be the subject of a rescue operation by the government.

The prosecutor in Brussels was alerted to a number of suspect transactions by the finan- cial industry watchdog Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (CBFA). Last month, a search warrant was carried out at the minister’s home in Liedekerke, Flemish Brabant. Schouppe has denied any wrongdoing and pointed out that he has always been active on the stock market.

As a member of the government of Yves Le- terme, he is in place to take care of ongoing matters until a new coalition can be formed. He was unlikely to be part of a new administration: as a member of CD&V, which suffered a major defeat in the elections in June, he failed to be re-elected to the Senate.

Schouppe, 68, has only been active in na- tional politics since 2003; from 1987 to 2002 he was managing director of the rail authority NMBS, where he had spent most of his career. When he was forced to step down because of a political clash with the government in 2002, he received a pay-off of €2 million, which many now think lies at the root of his current problems.

The case against Schouppe is expected to go on for a long time. One problem that will not arise, however, concerns parliamentary im- munity. Since Schouppe was neither elected nor co-opted, he now returns to the status of an ordinary member of the public. And as a member of a government living on borrowed time, he need not even suffer the indignity of having to resign.