In an internal audit, bpost discovered possible abuses in three services that the postal company performs for the government. That is what Minister of Public Enterprises Petra De Sutter (Green) said in the House on Thursday. It involves managing the state’s accounts, collecting fines from foreign traffic offenders, and collecting and delivering license plates. The minister also emphasized that not only her department is involved. “This is not the problem of one minister, and not even one legislature.”
Earlier this week, under De Sutter’s impulse, the federal core cabinet decided to investigate all assignments that bpost carries out for the government. After it became clear earlier that there may be illegal agreements to win the concession for newspaper distribution, an own audit showed that bpost may have charged the government too much for other contracts.
De Sutter also asked the postal company for clarity. She has now received it, she said in the Chamber in response to interpellations by Michael Freilich (N-VA), Josy Arens (Les Engagés), Maria Vindevoghel (PVDA) and Nathalie Dewulf (Vlaams Belang). According to the Groen deputy prime minister, it concerns the management of the state’s accounts – the so-called 679 accounts -, the collection of fines from foreign traffic offenders and the import and delivery of number plates. These things were already circulating in the media, but De Sutter says he only received formal confirmation from bpost on Thursday afternoon.
According to De Sutter, the internal investigation has yielded “indications of irregularities” in those three contracts. According to her, Bpost contacted the competent ministers and services with whom the contracts were concluded on Thursday afternoon.
The green deputy prime minister emphasizes that different departments are involved, and that some contracts go back decades, to previous legislatures. “This is not the problem of one file or minister, and not even one legislature.” According to De Sutter, it is now necessary to investigate how everything could have happened under the radar of parliament and the government, and there is a “tipping point”. “Now is the momentum to press ahead and get rid of potentially skewed practices,” she said.
The chairwoman of the board of directors at bpost, Audrey Hanard, will explain the affair in the competent parliamentary committee on May 16. According to De Sutter, “it is a good thing to give bpost the opportunity to provide answers”.
Freilich asked the minister to involve parliament in the investigation into possible abuses at bpost, Josy Arens directed a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the affair. According to Vindevoghel, the minister did not reassure bpost’s 36,000 employees and ignored the consequences of the liberalization of the post on the company. Finally, Nathalie Dewulf demanded the repayment of unduly paid sums to bpost and emphasized that the company is “no longer suitable to carry out government contracts”.
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