Former VVD senator Jos van Rey is facing a €300,000 bill for tax evasion following his conviction for corruption in public office.

The public prosecution service says Van Rey invested his own earnings in a private company that funded an election campaign in order to avoid paying tax. Judges in Rotterdam will decide next week if the money should be counted as proceeds of crime.

The 73-year-old was given a 240-hour community service order in 2016 after being found guilty of corruption and passing on confidential information to a candidate for the mayor’s job in Roermond, Limburg.

Van Rey is appealing his convictions and a tax ruling against him to the Supreme Court after losing his first appeal.

The former senator remains a major player in Roermond’s political scene despite splitting from the VVD and quitting as an alderman in 2012. He set up a new party, Liberale Volkspartij Roermond, which became the largest group on the council in this year’s local elections with nine seats. However, other parties formed a cordon sanitaire to keep Van Rey’s party out of the local coalition.