“Overpaid” consultants and luxury cars
But this money is misused, according to several sources, who denounce the use of consultants.overpaid” (“Sometimes we pay them 800 euros per day for two weeks to make a small change that takes fifteen minutes on a site). or even the rise “sudden and excessive car leasing costs for management (“One of the directors drives an electric Mustang”).
A little over a year ago, several employees also alerted us to serious failings within I-City management, between “nepotism““climate of terror” and dismissals judged “abusive”. “It’s a mafia system. We’re at Putin’s here”, they explained to us. A collective complaint was even filed by employees of the non-profit organization with the City of Brussels, which promised to shed light on this matter..
Employees of a non-profit organization in the City of Brussels file a complaint against their employer: “We are with Putin here”
But as the months passed, nothing happened. Except in several mailboxes. Some ex-employees had thus received formal notices, or even summons to appear, for allegedly speaking to the press or complaining about the situation on social networks.. “My clients are the subject of a massive enterprise of destabilization and disinformation,” wrote lawyer Marc Uyttendaele in one of these letters of formal notice. The latter having been responsible for defending the non-profit organization and its director Mary-Odile Lognard.
A deficit of 700,000 euros
Things finally moved at the end of last year. On November 20, the College of the City of Brussels issued an order to strongly reframe the non-profit organization and its management. First observation: I-City is in the red, with a deficit of nearly 700,000 euros, even though the non-profit organization had been asked to break even. “Many optional expenses were noted”notes the College, which had already requested has management to come with savings proposals, “while guaranteeing continuity of services”. A request that remained unanswered.
I-City affair: the City of Brussels convenes an extraordinary CA to “shed light on the situation” following the revelations of La Libre
“In the current budgetary context, every public fund must be used to its best advantage.”adds the college. The city therefore decided to carry out “an audit of expenses incurred over the last 4 years” by I-City. The envelope allocated to the non-profit organization will also be reduced, to 38 million euros per year, with certain missions to be reinternalized within the City. Finally, management is placed under supervision: HR decisions must be validated by an office composed in particular of the Municipal Secretary, Emilie Dupont, as well as all expenses exceeding 500 euros.
“I prefer to leave”
A decision that went down badly with the director of the non-profit organization who resigned on December 31 “of all his functions within I-City and the City”. “Given the new budgetary constraints and the mode of operation that they seem to imply, I think it is preferable to pass the batonwrites Mary-Odile Lognard to her ex-employees. I prefer to leave, convinced that everyone must pull in the same direction”. A departure which is celebrated as a victory by some. “The City has finally tackled the problem head on.”rejoices a person close to the matter.
