Audit Flanders has a damning report on the VRT ready. This included blurring of standards and irregularities in public contracts. The VRT wants to clean up their house quickly.
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Audit Flanders launched an investigation last year after a a big fight was broken out between then CEO Paul Lembrechts and media director Peter Claes, the de facto number two in the organization. In the margins of that fight, which cost both men their jobs, an investigation was started into irregularities in the board of directors.
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That investigation has been completed and does not paint a very good picture of the internal state of affairs in some departments. On the one hand, this concerns a cultural problem in dealing with the law on public contracts. In some cases, these would not only be inadequately drawn up and complied with, but also not follow the procurement rules. Political circles speak of a culture of favoritism and ‘we know us’, where cheaper options were ignored because they preferred to work with suppliers preferred by the VRT.
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Taking edges
On the other hand, there is a series of examples in which internally the edges of certain procedures and rules were taken. In a press release, the VRT says that the report ‘gives the impression of inadequate organizational control and insufficient sense of integrity among certain employees’. According to our information, it is not so much about serious, financially drastic facts or corruption, but rather about a culture of blurring of standards among some employees.
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What is stated in that report is not acceptable in any company and certainly not with a public broadcaster that is partly financed with the money of the Flemish people.