Belgian minister faces questions over failed i-Police project
Belgian politics has been shaken by new questions over the failed i-Police digital system for the police, a project that cost tens of millions of euros and was later scrapped.
Annelies Verlinden, now justice minister and previously interior minister, is under pressure after it emerged that she worked as a lawyer for French IT firm Sopra Steria in 2019 before entering government. Sopra Steria later won the i-Police contract while she was in office.
Verlinden says there was no conflict of interest. She insists the legal case she handled had nothing to do with the police project, and that negotiations with the company had already been under way before she became minister. She also says the police managed the contract day to day.
Opposition parties are unconvinced. Green MP Matti Vandemaele says Verlinden should explain in parliament why she did not mention her past work for the firm. The Socialist Party (PS) has called for a full independent audit, saying there must be “no grey areas” when such a costly public project collapses.
Parliament is preparing a series of tense hearings. Police chiefs, Sopra Steria representatives and three former interior ministers, including Verlinden, are expected to testify. Tensions are also rising within the governing coalition, as some parties are openly criticising her while her own party is defending her.
The controversy follows the formal end of the i-Police project in late 2025. Interior minister Bernard Quintin cancelled the €299 million contract after years of delays and failures. An internal report said not a single part of the project had been fully delivered, even though €75.8 million had already been paid.
Justice minister Annelies Verlinden, previously minister of Interior, during a plenary session in parliament © BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM