Governor Lantmeeters: “No new, but additional increased supervision for Sint-Truiden” (Sint-Truiden)

“Flemish Minister of the Interior Gwendolyn Rutten (Open VLD) has once again placed the city council of Sint-Truiden under increased supervision. This is evident from a letter that the Domestic Administration Agency sent to Limburg Governor Jos Lantmeeters and to the mayor and aldermen of Sint-Truiden at the end of last month,” said a message from the Belga press agency on Thursday afternoon. This is said to have happened after a new report from Audit Flanders about possible conflicts of interest with companies that had a link with four aldermen.

But that is not correct, says Governor Lantmeeters. “It is not new increased supervision. When Bart Somers was still Minister of the Interior, I placed Sint-Truiden under increased supervision and that was never lifted. Not under Bart Somers and not when he was succeeded by Gwendolyn Rutten. That did not happen because we were always waiting for a new audit report. After the last audit, there were consultations with Minister Rutten and although many steps have already been taken, we have jointly decided to continue the increased supervision for a while. It is therefore not renewed supervision, but additional increased supervision because the minister wants additional answers following the last audit. Before we lift the increased supervision, we must first be sure whether all comments from Audit Flanders have been met.”

Lantmeeters confirms that a letter has been sent to the mayor and aldermen of Sint-Truiden. “As a member of the Domestic Administration Agency, I have sent a letter asking for a list of all the measures that have been taken.” He suspects that someone wanted to gain political advantage from that letter. “These are politically interesting times. There must be some politics behind it,” says Lantmeeters.

The latest report from Audit Flanders focuses on possible conflicts of interest in Sint-Truiden. These are government contracts that were issued over the past 11 years and in which companies that can be linked to aldermen Carl Nijssens, Hilde Vautmans, Jos Pierard and Peter Deltour supplied the goods or services.