Groen asks committee of inquiry: ‘Answers Van den Brande …

The Court of Audit found ‘a shortcoming in the field of competition’ for over 38% of the VRT contracts examined. This is evident from the report of the sample that the Court of Audit conducted in 2018 and that the chairman of the Media Committee received Elisabeth Meuleman (Groen) today.

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‘On several occasions the VRT awarded a public contract directly to a service provider, without placing a public contract or consulting several companies, although the public procurement regulations required this. At the very least, the VRT could not demonstrate the consultation of several entrepreneurs or the impossibility to do so, due to a lack of supporting documents or a motivated decision, ”the report says. The Court of Audit found a shortcoming in 18 of the 47 expenditure examined.

The Court of Audit reported on the final report to the then managing director of VRT Paul Lembrechts, the chairman of the board of directors of the VRT Luc Van den Brande and the competent minister.

Crisis at the top

It is no coincidence that the conclusions of the Court of Audit’s report are now surfacing. Just today, Luc Van den Brande (CD&V), chairman of the board of directors, was questioned behind closed doors about his role in the crisis that has prevailed at the VRT top since last winter. On November 27, 2019, CEO Paul Lembrechts requested the resignation of his director of Production & Media, Peter Claes. He was refused this by the board of directors. In the aftermath of that conflict, Lembrechts was asked by the competent minister to resign, only later Claes had to go too. After reporting about malpractices at the top of the VRT, Audit Flanders started a forensic investigation.

Two weeks ago, the members of parliament were able to view the report of Audit Flanders on this. That report would show that Lembrechts had rightly requested Claes’s dismissal at the time. The Audit report, which is secret, would also point out that the VRT ‘did not follow the established procedures’ for certain contracts.

That is why the timing of this Court of Audit report is so remarkable. The VRT received the report on October 22, 2019. Both the then CEO Paul Lembrechts and the chairman of the board of directors received a copy. Lembrechts formulated an answer on November 14. Less than two weeks later, he asked for Peter Claes to be fired.

Opposition not satisfied

Groen asks a committee of inquiry into the role of the VRT chairman. “We have too many questions and too few answers,” said Elisabeth Meuleman after the hearing in the Media Committee of the Flemish Parliament. Today there are too many statements by the chairman that make us question ourselves. His explanation is not satisfactory to us. We also need to be able to hear other people. ‘

The passage of Van den Brande was also not convincing for Flemish Member of Parliament Katia Segers (SP.A). ‘I see a chairman who has not taken hold of things. He had all the information, but he did nothing with it. ‘

On Thursday evening, the VRT announced via a press release that the report of the Court of Audit was discussed at the meeting of the Audit Committee of 16 December 2019. On the same day, the chairwoman of the Audit Committee reported on this to the full Board of Directors. An action plan was also discussed in that audit committee to tackle the problem areas. Among other things, the purchasing processes would be strengthened. In addition, the central purchasing authority would exercise stronger supervision to comply with the law on public procurement.

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