One of the two members of Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter's office who was on the bpost payroll argued in favour of not cutting the company's allocation for the distribution of newspapers, L'Echo and De Tijd revealed on Thursday.
This is the latest revelation to rock the Groen minister after it was revealed that two of her cabinet members had previously worked at the national postal company.
L'Echo and De Tijd reported that the employee in question is Catherine Wijnants, whom they claim De Sutter appointed in 2021 to monitor the money paid by the Belgian Government for bpost's newspaper distribution. Wijnants had worked previously for bpost and was still being paid by the company, which represents a potential conflict of interest.
WhatsApp messages between De Sutter's chief of staff Kurt Van Raemdonck and Dirk Tirez, bpost's interim CEO at the time, show that the company's "concerns have been passed onto Wijnants". Tirez had messaged Van Raemdonc after he found out that bpost would receive €60 million less for their newspaper postings.
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In the end, the Belgian Government would hold back on the cut. It continued to provide bpost with considerable, though slightly reduced, funds: €150 million per year instead of the previous amount of €160 million.
Bpost has been under scrutiny ever since Tirez was fired for failing to comply with company policy on its distribution of newspapers. In response, De Sutter's spokesperson argued that "these exchanges only show the professional links that exist between (De Sutter's) cabinet and bpost, in which requests for information and clarification are normal".
Yet De Sutter will have a hard time arguing her case to the other government ministers, who have been left "feeling like idiots" over the scandal, L'Echo reports.
