Mahdi wants audit to how money for the judiciary previous legislature has been spent

With the Easter agreement, Minister of Justice and party member of Mahdi Annelies Verlinden receives extra money to tackle the overcrowding in prisons. « That is much needed because the previous government has left a mess at the judiciary, » said the CD&V chairman who came to defend Easter agreement at VTM News.

Striking because CD&V was also in the previous federal government, just like Verlinden who was then Minister of the Interior. « Minister Verlinden has always tried to work together constructively. That does not mean that you fully see how the Minister of Justice fills in his own powers. It would not be bad to conduct an audit to how the resources for the judiciary were spent the previous legislature. There were also a lot of resources. If you look at the mess that is today, you can ask. »

Verlinden is also critical for her predecessor in interviews in a few weekend newspapers. The previous government decided that penalties under three years should be fully implemented, but there was not sufficient capacity foreseen. « In current affairs, the previous Minister of Justice has therefore taken the decision to temporarily suspend punishments for up to five years for certain prisoners. When I started at the beginning of February, there were already more than 2,000 convicts who had not yet received a letter of cancellation for prison. In the meantime, there are 4,000, » Verlinden said in time.

Minister Vincent van Quickenborne « has mainly communicated but did not pursue a policy, » said Mahdi. « We have to clean up that mess today. I am happy that the trade unions of the prison system are satisfied with the things in the Easter agreement and for which we and also minister Verlinden have fought hard. »