In 2021, Audit Flanders received a report every three days about possible irregularities at the local authorities or at the Flemish administration. This is apparent from the annual report of the agency that screens the municipal authorities. Audit Flanders received 86 reports about possible corruption or unethical behavior at municipal authorities and 33 for the Flemish civil service. So a total of 119 reports, a record. In 2019 and 2020, there were still 76 and 85 units, respectively.
Both citizens and organizations can submit a report. Audit Flanders can also start a forensic audit on its own initiative. Due to the European Whistleblowers Directive, Audit Flanders is also the permanent internal reporting channel for the Flemish administration.
Some abuses came to light through media coverage. A well-known example is the investigation into Veerle Heeren, mayor of Sint-Truiden. Last year it turned out that the CD&V politician was vaccinated against Covid-19 faster than allowed. This led, among other things, to a forensic investigation by Audit Flanders. In the end, Heeren was suspended for six months by Flemish Minister of the Interior Bart Somers (Open Vld).
According to administrator-general Mark Vandersmissen, these mediagenic investigations helped to increase the brand awareness of Audit Vlaanderen, and therefore also to an increase in the number of reports. That increased awareness also takes its toll in terms of workload. “We have recently started working with a waiting list, because we are at our maximum capacity,” Vandersmissen tells Knack. “So we continue to receive reports well, but it will take a while before we can investigate everything. We are limited in terms of staff capacity, so a little more staff wouldn’t be bad.”