The Auditors’ Court has published a damning report on the digitalisation of the Justice Department. The audit highlights lack of strategy, external consultants that are wielding too much power and “a risk of fraud” that has arisen as a result of of the digitisation of some processes. The Justice Minister in Belgium’s outgoing Federal Government Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal) contradicts a number of findings in the report and points to shortcomings within his department.
An draft version of the Auditors’ Court report was already leaked last May. The office of the Justice Minister then dismissed it as being only a draft report. However, in final version of the audit, which has been running since June 2023, the Auditors’ Court retains most of the criticism expressed in last May’s draft.
Lack of strategy
The audit says that, amongst other issues, a “coherence strategy” for the digitalisation of the Justice Department is lacking. The Auditors’ Court says that 3 departments at the Justice Ministry are working separately on projects for digitalisation. These are the ICT Staff Office, the Digital Transformation Office and Crossborder.
The Auditors’ Court says that the division of roles between each of these department is unclear. Furthermore, the office of the Justice Minister is said to be deliberately allowing the three departments to compete with each other rather than encouraging them to work together in the hope that this will achieve results faster”.
The cooperation between the Crossborder department and the Belgian post office bpost has previously come under fire after an investigation by the Flemish nationalist MP Michael Freilich found that bpost deliberately overcharged the Justice Department 12 times in 2 years for the rental of a building.
“500 consultants”
The issues are much wider though. The Auditors’ Court reports that a lack of staff with appropriate skills has led to a “huge” dependence on external consultants. The Auditors’ Court estimates that there are some 500 consultants work at the Justice Department, some of whom in management positions. At the Crossborder department, consultants even occupy “all the positions directly under the management and since November 2023, on the board of directors”.
The Auditors’ Court says that the consultants are not subject to sufficiently checks and this results in “a risk of them being paid twice for the same job”. Furthermore, “There is no guarantee that the consultants were always working on the projects to which they were contractually assigned”.
“Irregularities with contracts”
The Justice Department is also said not to have always followed the rules with regard to consultancy contracts”. The Justice Minister's office is said to “regularly in the choice of specific consultants” and “irregularities with regard to certain consultant’s performance of certain consultants are put right afterwards”. More specifically, a contract is sometimes adjusted after a consultant has already performed a particular task.
Furthermore, funds used to pay consultants are sometimes taken from cash that is intended for other expenditure.
“Risk of fraud”
The audit paints a picture of a department that is in chaos and a Justice Minister’s office that intervenes to artificially speed up projects and allows digitalisation projects at the Justice Department to become the almost exclusive domain of external consultants. Managers are reported not to intervene in order to avoid conflict with the minister’s office.
The Auditor’s Court says that insufficient measures are being taken to avoid the risk of fraud. The Justice Department has been asked to develop a strategy to "control internal fraud (committed by those within the organisation) and external fraud (committed against the organisation by outside parties)".
Justice Minister reacts
In 14-page reply to the audit, the office of the outgoing Federal Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal) says that in general the audit “does not do justice to the considerable efforts that have been made to modernise the Justice Department”.
The minister also points to what has been realised in the field of digitalisation. “Much more progress has been made in recent years than during all previous legislatures”
Mr Van Tigchelt denies some of the Auditors’ Courts’ specific criticisms. For instance, he says that European funds were not misallocated. The minister also denies that his office allowed different departments at the Justice Ministry to compete with each other.
However, Mr Van Tigchelt does admit that there are many shortcomings within the Justice Department administration. The minister also says that the power of consultants within the administration may have become too great.