After finishing his education, he entered the financial sector, and was employed at A.V., BAC, BACOB and finally Dexia.

Due to the running investigation, he could not be sworn in as mayor by provincial governor Camille Paulus, having won the municipal elections that year.

The charges against him were eventually dropped by the prosecutor because no evidence of wrongdoing had been found, and Hendrickx was able to start his second term.

[3] Hendrickx also gained prominence in the national media during the runup to the same election, after declaring he was willing to break the cordon sanitaire and form a coalition with the far right Vlaams Belang, led by Marie-Rose Morel.

[4] In the local elections of 2012, Hendrickx and the CD&V were defeated by the N-VA candidate Maarten De Veuster, who is coincidentally also his son in law.