The city wants extra investigation into the invoice for the champagne party from vzw Veerle Heeren | Sint Truiden

In May 2017, the non-profit association ‘De Vrienden van Veerle Heeren’ held a talk under the name Champagne Edition in the STVV stadium. More than 300 participants attended the networking event, each paying an entry fee. Paul-François Vranken of the famous champagne house Vranken-Pommery came to speak during ‘Champagne Edition’ and thus inspired former mayor Veerle Heeren (CD&V) who tipped a number of fruit growers that viticulture could be lucrative for the Haspengouw region.

Now invoices have come to light from a company that supported the city in its purchasing policy. It would concern one invoice of more than 12,000 euros for various assignments from the city. The causerie is explicitly mentioned three times in the description. At the time, the company charged 100 euros per hour plus VAT, but it is not clear what that assignment for a causerie entailed and how many hours were counted for it.

The then alderman of Finance and current candidate mayor Ingrid Kempeneers (CD&V) was also present at the talk, but says she was not aware of the invoices. “Yes, I was there too and paid my registration fee just like everyone else present. But the details of the invoices for that causerie never passed me. As Alderman of Finance you write the policy, but you are not supposed to check all incoming and outgoing invoices. That is the job of the financial services,” explains Ingrid Kempeneers. “It is a pity that this causerie is now linked to the city and to our party. The event was organized by the association. Not by CD&V.”

“Yesterday evening we immediately met before a council committee at which it was discussed that the invoices in question will be transferred to Audit Vlaanderen in the context of the investigation they are conducting into the financial service of Sint-Truiden,” Kempeneers confirms.

The non-profit association De Vrienden van Veerle Heeren was dissolved on 19 September 2019, according to the Staatsblad. The net assets of the non-profit association, after deduction of costs and publication in the Staatsblad, were transferred to the CD&V department of Sint-Truiden. Veerle Heeren herself says that she does not know that the invoice in question is linked to the causerie of her non-profit organization. According to municipal council chairman Bert Stippelmans, all council members will be kept informed in all transparency.

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