Justice is struggling with 28.5 million euros in expired invoices
© Marc Herremans – Mediahuis
The Federal Public Service Justice has difficulty paying its invoices. Even more, figures that Vlaams Belang has requested, shows that the judiciary has € 28.5 million in expired invoices.
It concerns thousands of invoices for, among other things, the prison system, but also, for example, utility invoices for gas, electricity, water and waste collection at the court buildings. « This makes all alarm bells go off, » says MP Alexander van Hoecke (Vlaams Belang).
The figures that Van Hoecke has requested indicate a dire lack of money in the judiciary. Justice has more than 6,400 expired invoices for more than 28.5 million euros. This includes invoices for the prison system (6.1 million euros), IT services (5.6 million euros) and the court buildings (5 million euros). Due to the overdue invoices, the rehabilitation residues also amount to 350,000 euros.
According to Vlaams Belang MP Van Hoecke, the figures « all alarm bells go off ». « The De Wever government is only releasing 33.5 million euros extra for the judiciary. If it only pays the unpaid invoices, nothing will be left to pursue policy. »
Striking: the utility invoices of the court buildings are also not paid in the judiciary. This concerns invoices for gas, electricity, water and waste collection. But payment problems also pop up when renting buildings. At the end of February there was no less than 3.6 million euros in unpaid utility invoices open at the court buildings. Last year, 18.2 million euros in utility invoices were paid too late.
Vlaams Belang calls on the De Wever government to take urgent additional resources for the judiciary. « That even the invoices for basic needs are not paid is indicative of the state of justice, » says Van Hoecke. « The current government does not undertake anything to remedy the ruins of Vivaldi on Justice. A lot of small and medium -sized companies are also dragged by the payment problems in the judiciary. »
