Belgium's Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) had a personal relationship with someone at the law firm advising Sopra Steria in their bid for the failed digitalisation project I-Police.
According to Le Soir, Verlinden has a long-term relationship with a manager at the firm, which advised Sopra Steria since the beginning of the bidding process. There is no evidence that Verlinden's partner worked directly for Sopra Steria or participated in the I-Police bid.
Verlinden denied any conflict of interest during a special hearing in March of last year. Before taking office, she had defended Sopra Steria as a lawyer before the European Court of Justice.
"Such a characterisation would imply the existence of an unlawful advantage or a conflict of interest, which is clearly not the case," Verlinden’s office told Le Soir.
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She awarded I-Police to Sopra Steria in 2021 when she was Minister of the Interior, with the French tech consultancy firm being granted a €300 million budget.
The idea was to upgrade IT systems and tools for the Belgian police, allowing, among other things, the creation of an updated database system, facilitating data exchange, and improving the detection of security threats.
The Belgian government terminated the contract last year due to a lack of tangible results. At the time, Sopra Steria had been paid €75.8 million for work on the project.
