Statement by Marc Crochet arouses doubts about the « theory of the holey bucket »

In the special commission of the Chamber to investigate the Caritas scandal, the representatives of the opposition has been the crucial question for weeks: Was it really necessary to react about Caritas’ activities? Or could the government have received the relief organization with the corresponding political will in its existing form?

The main argument of the government: As part of the fraud of 61 million euros, Caritas had taken out credit lines at the millions in the millions. So it was risked that every euro state money that was also provided to Caritas would ultimately ended up with the banks.

CSV parliamentary group president Marc Spautz had said that it was not an option to keep pouring money into a « bucket with holes » without knowing who drilled the holes. Therefore, according to the government, there was no other choice than to found a legally independent organization against which the banks do not raise any claims.

Only the fondation has taken out credit lines

Marc Crochet’s statement, the general director of Caritas at the time of fraud, is now raising doubts about this presentation on Wednesday before the special commission.

According to this, only the Fondation Caritas had recorded credit lines with the banks. So the activities could have been continued in another Caritas unit, for example the Caritas ASBL, Sven Clement explains from the pirates after the session.

« So far, the theory of the bucket with the holes has been true. But that is no longer durable, » said Taina Bofferding from the LSAP. The crisis committee, which had been used after the scandal became known, always presented a « Caritas solution » as impossible, says Djuna Bernard from Déi Gréng. However, this is primarily due to the fact that certain people would have had an interest in making Caritas a pure service provider.

Crochet himself did not want to comment against the journalists after the session with reference to the ongoing examinations. His lawyer François Prüm, who accompanied him to the Commission, only said in his name that there were definitely slopes to maintain the activities within Caritas. He said the fear that the values ​​for which Caritas stand would not necessarily be represented in the new organization Hut.

According to Bofferding, Crochet expressed his disappointment in the Commission that Prime Minister Luc Frieden had expressed after the scandal that there was no longer confidence in Caritas.

Tense relationship with the chief of finance

Representatives of the government parties emphasized that Crochets’s assessment that Caritas had to be saved in the old form first acted about the « personal opinion » of the former Caritas manager, says Carole Hartmann (DP).

In addition, contradictions in Crochets’s statements showed those of the Board of Directors and the personal elegation that there were problems in the « governance » of the organization.

According to Charel Weiler (CSV), the President of the Commission, Crochet also dealt with his tense relationship with the CFO of Caritas, who commissioned the transfers. Long before the scandal became known, he had registered doubts about the character of his employee, especially when dealing with other colleagues.