The Brussels public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation after it received the damning report of Audit Flanders on the VRT. That was confirmed to our editorial staff.
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The Brussels public prosecutor’s office has confirmed that a criminal investigation has been opened in response to the audit report that Audit Flanders drew up on the VRT. The Central Service for the Fight against Corruption (CDBC), the anti-corruption service of the federal police, can thus carry out further investigative actions. For the time being, it has not yet been stated which crimes are being investigated.
Audit Flanders started an investigation after reporting about malpractice at the public broadcaster, which resulted from an open war at the top of the broadcaster – between the then CEO Paul Lembrechts and his number two Peter Claes, the director of Production and Media. It is not yet clear what exactly is contained therein, but it is known that the conclusions are damning. For example, there would be blurring of standards and irregularities. Procurement rules would have been circumvented. ‘What is stated in the report cannot be tolerated in any company‘, said newly appointed CEO Frederik Delaplace.
The report will not be made public because it contains commercially sensitive information. Descriptions of incidents would also be traceable to ‘easily identifiable persons’, so that free access cannot be justified.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Luc Van den Brande (CD&V) was put to the test behind closed doors in a long hearing at the end of October by the members of parliament about his role in the crisis at the VRT top. A leaked report from the Court of Audit, in which there was talk of ‘shortcomings in the field of competition’ in the contracts concluded by the VRT, added extra fuel to the fire.
The central question there was why the Board of Directors refused the resignation of Peter Claes by then CEO Paul Lembrechts and in turn decided to dismiss both of them. ‘We made the only logical decision with the elements that we then had in our hands,’ Van den Brande said at the time. The majority parties continue to support Van den Brande, but Elisabeth Meuleman (Groen) and Katia Segers (SP.A) did not accept this. Groen then wanted a committee of inquiry to clarify whether Van den Brande was beyond his control as chairman.
It remains to be seen what the consequences of the ongoing criminal investigation will be for the VRT.
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