Investigation launched into benefits fraud at Anderlecht CPAS
An investigation has been launched into claims of systemic benefits fraud within the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht. Flemish broadcaster VRT uncovered proof that people who are not entitled to "living wage" payments are nonetheless easily able t
An investigation has been launched into claims of systemic benefits fraud within the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht.
Flemish broadcaster VRT uncovered proof that people who are not entitled to "living wage" payments are nonetheless easily able to obtain the regular social support from the Anderlecht branch of social aid agency CPAS.
As part of the report, VRT journalists applied for and were granted the living wage payments, even though none of them lived in Anderlecht.
Lotfi Mostefa and Mustapha Akouz, the current and previous president of the Anderlecht CPAS, failed to show up on Wednesday at a hearing on the fraud. Outgoing Brussels minister for social integration Karine Lalieux did attend and faced numerous questions.
Lalieux denied that she has ignored criticism of Anderlecht's CPAS operations in recent years, saying she asked the inspectorate to look into the publicised questionable cases after VRT broke the story.
“The analysis leaves no doubt - the living wages paid are illegal,” she said, adding that the administration has already requested reimbursement.
Lalieux also requested an analysis of all new cases at the CPAS since 1 September 2024 and faster sanctioning of CPAS for any file completed outside the 30-day legal deadline.
During the hearing, Lalieux was accused of only passively watching and never responding to observations made after annual inspections, which she denied.
The president of the administration intervened a first time in 2022. A year later, a second intervention followed, asking that the CPAS draw up an action plan to address the consistent observations of potential irregularities.
Since the situation did not significantly improve, the decision to sanction CPAS for files processed outside the legal deadline followed in early October 2024.
Concrete steps forward must also be taken in 2025, otherwise refunds made on a sample basis would be extrapolated to all files.
“All these measures were taken in complete independence,” Lalieux said.
“The administration never asked me questions about one dossier or another, nor about sanctions arising from them. I therefore do not see how, and on what basis, I can be accused today of having covered up any fraud.”
The minister also pointed to limited powers. The criteria to pay a living wage and the procedure to apply for it are both set at the federal level.
Regions and municipalities must ensure that CPASs have sufficient resources and methods for their operation, meaning the federal government can only control compliance with the procedure.
In this respect, there are three forms of control, the first of which is a continuously running automatic control to detect errors in applications.
In Anderlecht, just 0.9% of the 3,831 applications made in 2023 were blocked through this first check. Across all of Belgium, the minister spoke of 39,000 cases, allowing the government to recover more than €11 million euros in 2023.
A second check is done "on desk" and is an accounting check, and the last check is made by the POD Social Integration inspection service.
Service head Bérengère Steppé of the inspectorate explained that the control system had looked at the two cases covered in the VRT report, but admittedly only after the decision of Anderlecht’s CPAS. She further specified that a flag on an application does not necessarily indicate fraud.
“No CPAS works perfectly,” Lalieux said.
According to the inspection reports, 23 CPASs have been reprimanded due to problematic refusals, 37 had recurrent problems in meeting the 30-day deadline in processing applications and 45 had problems registering applications.
Staff at Anderlecht’s CPAS point to high workloads as a major factor in why errors - and potential fraud - are not easily spotted.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
