An internal audit carried out by the Belgian post bpost has revealed that bpost, its competitor PPP and the publishers DPG Media and Mediahuis made agreements that break competition law in order to ensure that bpost was awarded the contract for the distribution of newspapers to the homes of those that have subscriptions. The distribution of newspapers in Belgium is heavily subsidised by the state.
Home News
Post office made illegal deal with competitor and publisher in order to win newspaper distribution contract
Published:
Anyone winning the contract to distribute newspaper is guaranteed a sizable source of income for the period that the contract runs, in this case from 2023 to 2027. Not only was bpost guilty of making agreement that were in breach of competition law, but those that were then at the head of bpost did all they could to ensure that the agreements didn’t come to light.
It was due to suspicions regarding irregularities in the awarding of the 2023 to 2027 newspaper distribution contract that bpost’s CEO Dirk Tirez and executives Nicolas Merie and Tom Vermeirsch were dismissed at the end of last year. The internal audit concludes that the three top executives were aware of and cooperated in illegal agreements in exchange for the withdrawal of bpost’s competitor PPP from the newspaper distribution contract race.
In addition to this the auditors found that "active damage was done to the investigation by suppling misleading information and forged documents".
Furthermore, the audit also states that bpost had a pervasive culture of "lack of compliance", where negligence and insufficient knowledge of internal rules of conduct meant that top managers could not only violate the rules, but also conceal their breaches.
The Chair of bpost’s board of directors Audrey Hanard told the press agency Belga that “The audit provides an opportunity to start afresh and strengthen our governance. We are carrying out an examination of the entire organisation. If other malpractices come to light, we will investigate them throughly and with the same professionalism.
Meanwhile, Mr Tirez, Mr Meire and Mr Vermeirsch declined to comment. The publishers DPG Media and Mediahuis also declined to comment on the affair in which they too are implicated.
The CEO of PPP Michel d’Alessandro formally denies that there have been any contacts with bpost.