EU trade chief faces tax probe over Italian home: reports

(BRUSSELS) - Belgian tax authorities are investigating European Union trade chief Karel De Gucht over his purchase of a second home in Italy's Tuscany region, Belgian media reported on Tuesday.

The finance ministry's Special Tax Inspection agency (ISI), whose mission is to combat fraud, has been reviewing the bank statements of De Gucht and his wife since Monday, the newspaper De Standaard reported.

Belgian tax authorities are looking into the conditions behind the home's sale.

The banks provided the documents to ISI after De Gucht, who was Belgium's foreign minister between 2004-2009, refused to hand it to the tax agency, the daily said.

The EU commissioner had asked a court in December to block the release of his banking information, arguing that a July 2011 law that eased banking secrecy laws "went too far". The law was backed by his own Flemish liberal VLD party.

The court rejected his request to have the case taken up to Belgium's constitutional court. De Gucht has appealed the decision.

The European Commission refused to comment on the case.

"It's a private matter for commissioner De Gucht, so we will not comment," a spokesman for the EU's executive arm, Alejandro Ulzurrun, told a news briefing.

When asked whether De Gucht supports EU initiatives on transparency and the fight against tax fraud, the spokesman said: "Commissioner De Gucht is attached to it, like all members of the commission."