2023-05-03 18:00:00
In addition to a series of banking irregularities, a series of departures came to creak the cogs of Bpost. The latest, the most resounding, being that of Dirk Tirez. The CEO “was responsible for restoring calm at the top and continuing the transformation of the company. But, once again, we are faced with drifts”lamented in December 2022 Petra De Sutter (Groen), Minister of Public Enterprises and Telecommunications.
Bpost: “This investigation hurts us but we want to start again on a sound basis”
It was in this chaotic atmosphere that the news from Tijd and L’Écho fell. The newspapers report on Wednesday that the minister’s office has employed two posted workers since 2020. Paid by Bpost, these cabinettards manage postal matters and are involved in the negotiation of the Bpost management contract. This agreement, which amounts to several hundred million euros, determines the public service missions of the postal company. What raise the idea of a conflict of interest in the leader of the political opposition.
”The seventh management contract brought Bpost much more than expected. It must now be determined whether this is due to the actions of these two employees and whether a conflict of interest has indeed occurred. Bpost works with a company bonus program which is partly calculated on “individual performance”. Who can guarantee me that this was not the case here?asks Michael Freilich, federal deputy N-VA.
“The Minister attacked Bpost for irregularities and overcharges for services to the State. But the collaborators who manage the file in his office are paid by BPost at the request of the minister. It is extremely serious”asserts Catherine Fonck, group leader Les Engagés in the Chamber.
Even in the majority, some are worried. “All clarity must be made on Bpost. Today there is too much unacceptable information”insists Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the MR.
At the De Sutter firm, we are trying to defuse the bomb. “It is true that some bpost people work for us and are on their payroll. Several people working in the cabinets are seconded from the administration. It is legal according to a royal decree of 1999”. It is Bpost itself which would have proposed this in 2020 and which has now asked to put an end to this situation. “This is also a consequence of Bpost’s internal audit. It means that a new wind is blowing.”
Petra De Sutter herself recalled that “secondments are a widespread practice, in my cabinet and in other cabinets, in our government and in other governments”. The Federal Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) employs, for example, workers seconded from Infrabel. Walloon Employment Minister Christie Morreale (PS) has a chief of staff seconded from Solidaris. The Walloon Minister for the Environment Céline Tellier (Ecolo) works with a seconded Greenpeace.
Legally, everything is in order. Ethically, there is much to debate. To this, Minister De Sutter replies that she laid down a code of ethics for her cabinet at the start of her mandate. “The employees have all signed that they only serve the public interest”, says the environmentalist.
But internally, it rumbles. At the federal level, several personalities believe that the situation is not tenable and that there has been major negligence. Word “resignation” comes back several times. After the departure of Sarah Schlitz, the specter of a new ministerial abdication against a backdrop of “bad governance” makes the environmentalist family tremble again.
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