An investigation into the environmental inspection is nothing short of damning. During a forensic audit, Audit Flanders found indications of irregularities, conflicts of interest and corruption in the environmental inspectorate in the period 1991-2018. It concerns four concrete cases of which demonstrable evidence was found. Three in petrochemicals and one in agriculture. It may be a lot more cheating.
Audit Vlaanderen started its investigation at the end of last year after statements of an anonymous witness in the VRT program ‘Pano’. The testimony mentioned close ties between the inspectorate and the chemical company 3M. After a thorough investigation, this turned out to be true. It effectively left an inspector too close ties to 3M. But the audit showed that there is much more going on at the inspection service. For example, Audit Flanders found concrete indications of a conflict of interest and corruption, which persisted for almost thirty years.
More specifically, it concerns a former employee who retired in 2019. The inspector, a manager of the Environmental Inspectorate in the Antwerp field, had close ties with a number of companies, including 3M. Audit Vlaanderen even found indications that crimes had actually been committed by the inspector at four companies. For example, it would have disabled official reports and mixed it with inspection reports from supervisors. It would concern three petrochemical companies located in the port of Antwerp and one agricultural company in Ravels. For that farm, the inspector allegedly manipulated a police report and obscured the presence of fipronil, a dangerous insecticide, in the farm’s manure.
heavy file
At Audit Flanders, they even talk privately about “one of their more serious files”. The facts are so serious that the police have also been informed. The file is now with the Central Service for Combating Corruption of the Federal Police. Unlike Audit Vlaanderen, it can search private e-mails and servers. Flemish Minister for the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) also submits a criminal complaint to the public prosecutor of Antwerp against the inspector in question, who is now retired, and against any unknown persons who helped.
“The findings in the report are unacceptable,” says Demir. “That is why we are filing a criminal complaint against this person and anyone involved in such practices. I am counting on the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office to take this seriously.”
Call to whistleblowers
Audit Vlaanderen has found concrete indications for crimes in ‘only’ four files, but the inspection service may have even more cheating. For example, there would be statements from employees about a large number of files, but little can be found in writing about this. The hope is that the police and the public prosecutor can search even deeper. Demir has also requested a system audit of all enforcement services. The aim is to examine all of them.
In the meantime, Demir also calls on all employees of the Flemish government to report if they are aware of corruption. Even if this is done by managers. “Whistleblowers will be protected. Their struggle to protect the environment and health is mine,” Demir said.
Also read: Demir merges all environmental inspection services to avoid PFOS scandal in the future (+)
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