A parliamentary hearing on the Caritas scandal revealed stark divisions Wednesday, as the ex-director's claim that the foundation could have been saved clashed with the majority parties' insistence that its governance failures were irreparable.
Former Caritas director Marc Crochet told the special parliamentary committee on the Caritas scandal on Wednesday that the embattled charity could have been preserved without creating its successor, Help on the Ground (HUT).
Though Crochet declined to comment post-hearing, his lawyer François Prüm asserted that public funds could have been channelled through the association Acceuil et Solidarité – a legal workaround to shield subsidies from creditors.
The testimony challenges the government's characterisation of Caritas as a "bucket with holes." Opposition MPs Taina Bofferding of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) and Djuna Bernard of the Green Party (Déi Gréng) seized on the claims, while majority MPs Carole Hartmann of the Democratic Party (DP) and Charel Weiler of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) dismissed them as Crochet's "personal assessment," citing missing documentation and Caritas' "irreparable" governance failures. While opposition politicians acknowledge the governance problems, they regret that the creation of HUT led to the loss of certain values championed by Caritas.
The committee plans to summon Caritas' auditor and creditor banks (Spuerkeess, BGL BNP Paribas) next, though none have yet responded.
The special parliamentary committee was established to shed light on the €60 million embezzlement that was made public in July 2024. The fraud itself is being investigated by the judicial authorities, while the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are conducting an inquiry into the banks' loan practices.
