FPS Public Health crossed the line three times in MEDISTA affair: Vandenbroucke starts disciplinary proceedings and reports to the public prosecutor’s office

FPS Public Health crossed the line three times in MEDISTA affair: Vandenbroucke starts disciplinary proceedings and reports to the public prosecutor’s office | Domestic

In the Medista affair, three suspected integrity violations were identified by the Federal Internal Audit (FIA). Top official VH and other employees of the FPS Public Health are said to have crossed the line. Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) passes the report on to the public prosecutor’s office and starts disciplinary proceedings.

What preceded:

In 2022, the FPS Public Health organized a public tender to find a new partner for the distribution of the corona vaccines. The Belgian logistics company Medista had held that contract since 2020, but lost the new tender and claims that it was cheated. A top official is said to have conspired with a director of the French multinational Movianto, so that the latter could win the multi-million dollar contract. They both deny that.

This afternoon, the investigation report drawn up by the Federal Internal Audit (FIA) in response to the videos that emerged in December in the Medista case was read out in Parliament. The FIA found three possible integrity violations. To begin with, it appears that top official VH recommended a lawyer to the French multinational Movianto during the tender procedure. In principle she was not allowed to do that. Although the FIA cannot say with certainty whether she did so with malicious intentions. Minister Vandenbroucke transfers this information to the public prosecutor’s office, but without filing a complaint. He will start disciplinary proceedings against VH

Top official VH violated her duty of discretion and a Movianto consultant allegedly had access to trade secrets.

Subsequently, the FIA also discovered that VH breached its duty of discretion when it made statements to private investigators about how the tender went and about the financial conflicts with Medista. The FIA does note that it remains to be determined whether the top official made those statements in a legitimate conversation. Vandenbroucke will file a criminal complaint on that aspect. He wants the court to find out whether Medista has committed extortion.

Third, the FIA notes that a Movianto consultant may have had access to Medista trade secrets in the autumn of 2022. The FPS Public Health is said to have handled the procedures very sloppily, but the FIA does not know whether trade secrets were actually consulted. In order to verify this, Vandenbroucke transfers the information to the public prosecutor’s office. He does not file a complaint.

The FIA found no other evidence or indications that the tender for the multi-million dollar contract had been tampered with. But indications were found that there may be ‘irregularities’ in another tender – that of a contract for donations to Ukraine. But that too should be further investigated.