Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (Christen Democratisch en Vlaams, CD&V), on Friday defended her handling of the failed i-Police digitisation project during her tenure as Interior Minister, stating she had intervened and adjusted the project.
For weeks, the parliamentary Interior Commission has been investigating the collapse of i-Police, a high-profile initiative meant to modernise police operations. On Friday, the commission heard from successive Interior Ministers, beginning with Jan Jambon (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA), followed by Verlinden, who assumed office in October 2020.
Asked by legislators why she had not halted the project in Autumn 2023, when it seemed doomed to fail, Verlinden said the police had never requested its termination. “All stakeholders expressed their desire to continue," she recalled. "We received no indication urging us to stop.”
She noted further that the government lacked the legal grounds to terminate the contract abruptly. “Such a decision," she said, "would have required contractual reasons and factual evidence, which, according to the information available to me, were lacking.”
By late 2023, nearly €60 million had already been spent on the project, making it crucial to salvage whatever value could be obtained from those investments.
Verlinden pointed out her actions upon recognising “serious warning signals” in October 2023. She initiated an external audit and adjusted the project to address its shortcomings. “I am convinced that I took all possible measures to help the police complete this project and did manage to make the necessary adjustments,”she said.
Verlinden attributed part of the responsibility to previous Justice Ministers Vincent Van Quickenborne and Paul Van Tigchelt (both from the liberal Anders party). She revealed that, as late as the end of 2023, Van Tigchelt had written to the Commissioner General of the police, urging him to “do everything possible to ensure the project’s success.”
