France's richest man Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury group LVMH, is the subject of a criminal probe over his activities in Belgium, the financial daily De Tijd reported on Saturday, reports FRANCE 24.
The probe follows a preliminary investigation opened last year into a capital increase of 2.9 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in LVMH's Belgian holding company Pilinvest, prosecution spokesman Jennifer Vanderputten told the Flemish-language paper.
The transaction occurred in December 2011 at the company, which Arnault set up in Brussels in 1999.
Prosecutors could not be reached Saturday for comment.
A lawyer for Pilinvest, Pierre Vanommeslaghe, said the investigation was the "normal" consequence of the preliminary investigation.
"The company is awaiting the results of this investigation with great serenity," he added in a statement.
Read more of this AFP report published by FRANCE 24.