In response to the recent embezzlement scandal, two Caritas entities will be replaced by "HUT – Hëllef um Terrain", a new organisation dedicated to continuing its support efforts.
The Caritas Foundation and Caritas accueil et solidarité are set to be replaced by a new organisation named "HUT – Hëllef um Terrain" (Help On the Ground). This change follows a scandal involving the embezzlement of €61 million.
Christian Billon, who has been leading the crisis committee at Caritas, announced the new entity in a statement. The crisis committee has been in negotiations with the government to ensure the continuity of Caritas' activities despite the financial misconduct. Officials had already announced that the two entities would be dissolved in order to create a new one.
Christian Billon will remain on the board for a transitional period until Claudia Monti takes over when her term as Ombudsman ends in the first half of 2025. Officials emphasise that HUT will have no connection to the affected entities or the Caritas network and aim to rebuild trust with a fresh start. Ongoing discussions with the government aim to transfer national conventions to HUT starting 1 October.
According to the announcement, HUT will continue supporting over 20,000 individuals and will retain more than 350 employees. Current staff working on national projects will have the option to transition to HUT. The new organisation was developed independently with the assistance of PwC.
The founding members of HUT include:
• Fondation Félix Chomé
• Fondation La Luxembourgeoise
• Christian Billon
• Françoise Gillen
• Marc Lauer
• Georges Lentz
• Claudia Monti
• Paul Mousel
The goal is to encourage additional civil society actors to join the initiative.
Uncertainty surrounds new development cooperation entity
Caritas' portfolio includes over 100 projects across 15 countries, such as providing crèches for textile workers' children in Bangladesh, combating child malnutrition in Laos, and aiding Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. However, the aid organisation has not commented on the future of these projects in response to RTL's enquiries.
There is also uncertainty regarding the second independent entity Caritas announced in early August. This proposed entity is intended to take over humanitarian and development cooperation projects, along with the staff responsible for these initiatives in Luxembourg. Currently, 19 employees work on development cooperation projects in Luxembourg, with an additional 85 based abroad.
The Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL) reported earlier this week that no employees from the development cooperation sector will be transferred to the new entity for national activities, raising concerns about potential job losses.
Additionally, the Ministry of Development Cooperation has not been informed about the new entity for international activities. Minister for Development Cooperation Xavier Bettel confirmed in an interview with our colleagues from RTL.lu that no agreement has been sought regarding this matter.
More than half of ministry funds missing
Minister Bettel has expressed a desire to continue funding the projects his ministry co-financed, but stressed that recovery of the embezzled funds is a pre-requisite. The missing funds amount to slightly more than half of the €5.2 million that the ministry transferred to Caritas in 2024.
Bettel acknowledged the gravity of the situation but noted that it is not feasible to simply reallocate money from other associations to cover the loss. The current strategy involves recovering the embezzled amount by offsetting it against outstanding payments owed to Caritas by various ministries. The recovered funds will be redirected to the projects initially co-financed by the Development Cooperation Ministry.
These projects may be continued by local providers, other NGOs, or the Luxembourg development agency LuxDev.
Impact on Caritas projects abroad
In the 15 countries where Caritas Luxembourg operates, over 100 employees of partner organisations could face job losses, and thousands of beneficiaries might lose access to assistance. Luc Siebenaller, President of the Cercle de Coopération, a platform for development NGOs in Luxembourg, highlighted that Caritas is working to find solutions for the continuation of projects in the coming years despite the funding shortfall.
According to other sources, Caritas Netherlands has, for example, committed to temporarily funding a hospital and two healthcare centres in South Sudan. The focus is on maintaining critical projects that save lives. Additionally, it appears that projects in Ukraine, refugee aid for Ukrainians in Moldova, and earthquake relief efforts in Turkey will be continued by other organisations, according to RTL sources.
