Charel Weiler: « Everything went wrong here that can only go wrong »

At Caritas there were massive governance problems, both at the management level and at the level of the board of directors. This mismanagement created circumstances that made millions of fraud possible, even beneficiaries. This is the conclusion of the members of the Caritas special committee after the meeting on Wednesday.

The committee had invited the former Caritas operating director Tom Brassel to the hearing. According to Brassel, he had drawn the former vice president of the Board of Directors and today’s high officials in the Ministry of Justice, Pit Bouché, to the big credit lines on June 6, 2024 and rejected him again in a conversation at the end of June 2024. But nothing happens. This was announced by Brassel in the « Carambolage » podcast of Radio 100.7 and thus contradicting the previous presentation of the board of directors that it was only in mid -July 2024 of the fraud.

Brassel repeated his statements in front of the Caritas special committee on Wednesday. After the session, its members were shocked and sober at the same time.

Fayot: « Administrative Council did not work »

« Mr. Brassel drawn the image of an organization that has grown too quickly and was no longer able to cope with her work at the time of fraud, » said Franz Fayot (LSAP) after the two -hour session. The Board of Directors did not exercise its control function, but blindly trusted the general director and did not respond to Brassels. Its descriptions had shown impressively « how Caritas worked in everyday life. This explains how such an enormous fraud was possible, » said Fayot.

According to Fayot, Brassel informed the Board of Directors after he was asked by the CFO to sign credit lines of 23 million euros without knowing what the credit lines would be used for. But the board of directors did not respond and only dealt with it in mid -July, « when the alarm bells also shook, » said Fayot.

For Djuna Bernard (Déi Gréng) there is a need for political action. « The question arises how things will continue with the social sector, in which many people no longer have confidence. » It is important to give the organizations aid so that they can work optimally. At the same time, the control function must be strengthened in order to avoid such fraud affairs in the future.

« Everything went wrong here that can only go wrong, » said the chairman of the Commission, Charel Weiler (CSV). At the management level, « the left hand did not know what the right one did ». The first transfers were made in February 2024, « but in the weekly management meetings, never talked about the operations. We cannot understand that with the best will. »

Failure at all levels

Weiler, according to Weiler, played a crucial role. « She asked the HR manager to sign the transfers. Perhaps because she knew that she didn’t ask as many questions, » said Weiler. « This should have been exposed earlier if the management had worked correctly and carefully and would have been better communicated, » he is convinced.

Carole Hartmann (DP) described Caritas as an organization “without a head in which the directing members hardly communicated with each other, especially not about the numerous transfers and credit lines. These problems at the management level should have been discussed on the board of directors”.

For Tom Weidig, Brassels’ statements confirm the well-suspected governance problems at the management level, with a director (Marc Crochet, note of the), who did not have his administration under control, but also at the level of the board of directors, with a president (Marie-Josée Jacobs, ed. Check, ”says Weidig.

Opposition: « Caritas could have been saved »

The opposition remains – even in the light of the new information – that Caritas could have been saved – « of course with a different management, » said Marc Baum (Déi Lénk). So everything was just thrown overboard about experience and volunteering. « I find that negligent. »

Marc Baum is strange that « the former Vice President of the Caritas Board of Directors is a high civil servant in the Ministry of Justice ». In his opinion, the question arises « to what extent the politically responsible, i.e. the government at what point in time about what was informed and to what extent the high official would have been obliged to inform the government. The Minister of Justice may be able to tell us something, » said Baum.

Charel Weiler, on the other hand, said that restructuring was the only way to get jobs. Carole Hartmann also wondered how Caritas could have continued to work against the background « of such a chaotic governance ».

The Caritas special commission is under pressure. The appointment to submit the report has already been postponed – to mid -June. Until then, talks with the two banks involved (BGL BNP Paribas and Spuerkeess) as well as Premier Luc Frieden (CSV), Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel (DP) and Minister of Justice Elisabeth Margue (CSV) are planned. Pit Bouché has not yet been on the list.