The discontinued i-Police project to modernise the IT tools of the Belgian police cost the government €75.8 million, confirmed the Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (MR) on Tuesday during a debate in the Chamber.
The project's multi-million euro contract with IT consultant Sopra Steria was terminated at the end of last year by Quintin.
The French IT company was first approached to manage i-Police in 2021. The original contract was worth almost €300 million.
On Tuesday, Quintin explained to the Chamber the sequence of events that led to the end of the contract.
The project was announced in 2017 by the Internal Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA), and the contract was signed in 2021 under his successor Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), now Minister of Justice.
In recent years, however, internal reports and an audit by Deloitte – initiated on Verlinden's instructions – pointed to serious shortcomings at Sopra Steria: payments were made, but no part of the digitisation was operational, according to Quintin.
After a new evaluation, the Interior Minister decided to terminate the contract altogether. He confirmed that the French company has invoiced €84.4 million to date, of which €75.8 million has been paid.
'This did not come out of the blue'
Several members of the opposition criticised the situation. "Thousands of hours of consultancy have been invoiced, without any results," said Matti Vandemaele (Groen) in the Chamber.
Vandemaele further claimed that he had heard from sources that senior police officers were aware of the problems and had forbidden some officers from drawing up a report on the matter.
"This did not come out of the blue," said Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD), Minister of Justice in the previous legislature. "There were many warning signs."
At the House committee for domestic affairs, the opposition explicitly pointed the finger at Annelies Verlinden.
"[She] has another case that she wants to sweep under the carpet," said Vandemaele, referring to the controversial housing policy case in Aalter, involving a member of Verlinden's party.
"It seems that the minister has put all the warning signs in the same cupboard where the Aalter case ended up," said Van Tigchelt.
According to Van Tigchelt, the person in Verlinden's cabinet who was supposed to follow up on the i-Police case came from the Police Information and ICT Resources Directorate (DRI) and subsequently returned there as interim director.
"In other words, he was beholden to the federal police. How can you expect critical follow-up?" he said.
Calls for hearings
There was also criticism from within the majority. "Jambon and Verlinden presented this as a necessary modernisation. It is particularly unfortunate and telling that our colleagues from CD&V are not participating in the current debate," said Vooruit MP Brent Meuleman.
"Reference is made to Minister Jambon...but the full implementation started in 2021, by Minister Verlinden," said Maaike De Vreese (N-VA). "At the time, we in the opposition asked ourselves some big questions and, during the government negotiations, we asked for that project to be thoroughly revised."
MP Ridouane Chahid (PS) is calling for hearings on the dossier, including all current and former ministers involved. Vandemaele and Van Tigchelt support this request.
Digitalisation to continue
Quintin emphasised on Tuesday that the digitisation of the police force will not be halted. "Our police force will take the step into the 21st century, the digital age," he said.
However, for the MR minister, this should no longer be done "only with Pharaonic projects," but also with smaller steps "through the field, for the field and on the field."
De Vreese and Van Tigchelt are examining the FOCUS app as an option. This app was developed by the Antwerp police zone and is now used by police zones throughout the country.
