Minister Verlinden arbeitete als Anwalt für das Unternehmen, das hinter dem gescheiterten Multimillionen-Dollar-Projekt i-Police stand

Grappig dat men de schuld op Sopra Steria probeert af te schuiven. Projecten falen dikwijls bij een gebrek aan management en visie, laat daar net de opdrachtgever ook mede verantwoordelijk voor zijn. Zeker bij moderniseringsprojecten, waarbij de klant ook mee moet instaan naar hoe de business regels werken en wat er precies verwacht wordt.

For people that want an alternative to HLN:

[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/01/31/verlinden-ipolice-advocate/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/01/31/verlinden-ipolice-advocate/)

>A year and a half before becoming Minister of the Interior in 2020, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) acted as a lawyer for Sopra Steria, according to Het Nieuwsblad, and the news has been confirmed by Verlinden’s office. The French IT company was awarded the failed multi-million dollar i-Police project during her time as minister.

>An investigation by Het Nieuwsblad reveals that Verlinden worked as a lawyer for Sopra Steria in April 2019. At the time, she was co-managing partner of the Belgian branch of the international law firm DLA Piper. Along with two colleagues, she represented the company in a lawsuit before the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, a branch of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

>The judgment dates from 9 April 2019. Sopra Steria believed it had been wrongly excluded from an IT public contract for the European Parliament.

>According to Verlinden, the fact that she previously acted as a lawyer for Sopria Steria is unrelated to her work as a minister and with i-Police. „There is absolutely no connection between the two cases,“ she told the newspaper. „I was able to judge completely objectively. When I started as minister, negotiations with the company had already been going on for years.“

>All procedural rules were followed, says Verlinden. „The daily monitoring of the contract was handled by the police. As minister, I oversaw the police organization and made adjustments accordingly.“ According to Verlinden, there is no conflict of interest.

>What is i-police?

>Digitizing police work processes, integrating various data systems into a single information platform, and thus enabling faster detection of risks and criminal networks: these were the ambitious goals of the i-Police project, launched at the end of 2021.

>Former Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) concluded a contract for 299 million euros with the French IT consultancy company [Sopra Steria ](https://careers.soprasteria.be/client-story/2025-1/ipolice-helping-the-belgian-integrated-police-to-comply-wit)In December 2025, her successor, Quintin, terminated [that monster contract ](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/12/26/digitalisering-politie-mislukt-monstercontract-verbroken/)because, after years of invoicing, totaling nearly 76 million euros, there had been „no tangible results whatsoever.“

>In recent weeks, it became known that the [Brussels public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation ](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/01/27/parket-van-brussel-start-onderzoek-naar-i-police-vlaams-belang/)into possible embezzlement of government funds and conflicts of interest in the case.

This feels like a bit of a stretch