Eddy Merckx, the Belgian sportsman widely regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, could face corruption charges over sweeteners he allegedly paid for a contract to supply bikes to a Brussels police force.



The Belgian paper La Dernière Heure (DH) said the five-time Tour de France winner is suspected of giving the commissioner of the Brussels-Midi police force and his wife two top-end bicycles made by his company in order to win a €15,000 (£11,500) contract to supply 46 cycles to officers in Anderlecht in 2006.

The Brussels public prosecutor has confirmed a police investigation into the allegations involving Merckx and a dozen others opened in 2007 and was recently referred to the prosecutor’s office but added that no decision had yet been made on whether it would go to trial.

Contacted by DH, Mercxk said he had “nothing to say”, adding: “We’ll see what happens.” He has previously denied all allegations of wrongdoing, saying he had never made gifts of bicycles to the police and that invoices existed for all his company’s sales.

The former Brussels-Midi police chief, Philippe Boucar, was indicted for corruption and fraud in 2012. He has also strongly denied all allegations that he accepted gifts from Merckx in exchange for informing the former cyclist about the tenders submitted by rivals bidding for the contract.



Eddy Merckx in 2007. Photograph: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images Sport

Nicknamed the Cannibal by a teammate’s daughter for his insatiable appetite for winning, Merckx retired from professional cycling in 1978 and founded Eddy Merckx Cycles in 1980, stepping down as chief executive in 2008.

With a record 525 victories, Merckx, who was caught up in three doping incidents in an extraordinary 18-year professional career, is one of only two cyclists to have achieved the sport’s triple crown: winning the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Road World Cycling Championship in the same year.

His 11 grand tour wins – in the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Spanish La Vuelta – have also never been equalled. A national hero in Belgium, he has a metro station named after him in Anderlecht, which is policed by the Brussels-Midi force.

If the case does go to trial – likely to be decided in September – and Merckx is convicted, he could face up to two years in jail for bribing a public official.