The Standing Committee I, a permanent and independent review body for Belgium’s intelligence services, has been accused of handing out a dozen illegal bonuses to its superiors, Le Soir reports.
Belgian law does allow public bodies to give premiums to their executives for a period of up to six months. However, a law firm found that the committee’s bosses had been receiving bonuses for over a decade, which amounted to several thousands of euros.
The committee first investigated these bonuses in 2021, resulting in tension among employees: while some were in favour of discontinuing the premiums due to the unjustified amounts that were granted over the past 20 years, others strongly disagreed.
Two legal firms were hired by the committee to give their impartial opinion on the matter. Xirius told them to end the practice, but Claeys & Engels were less critical and informed the body that they could maintain certain bonuses if they were properly justified.
Both firms agreed that the committee would be better off negotiating with their employees instead of launching legal proceedings. Claeys & Engels warned that a "revolution" might occur if these bonuses were withdrawn.
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However, the situation escalated in March of last year when the committee's president came under threat. The Federal Parliament decided to suspend the planned dismissal of the president, Serge Lipszyc, and his two closest advisors, Thibaut Vandamme and Pieter-Alexander De Brock, while ordering an audit into the committee’s bonuses to be conducted by the Belgian Court of Audit.
Not much seems to have changed since then – the auditors' report is yet to be finished, and while the committee has stopped paying certain bonuses, others are still being granted.
This is the second time this year that a public body has been accused of receiving illegal bonuses. In the past few months, several parliamentary officials and presidents were also found to have been granted additional income on top of their pensions.
