Mayor of Differdange Guy Altmeisch has pushed back against criticism suggesting that the municipality could have done more to prevent being targeted in a recent fraud case, or that it failed to take the matter seriously enough.
His response follows comments made by Minister for Home Affairs Léon Gloden and coverage in the Tageblatt newspaper.
The case in question involved the municipality transferring more than €400,000 to a fraudulent bank account after criminals hacked the systems of an architectural firm working on a new town hall project in Differdange.
Recent reports in the Tageblatt, which first revealed the case, highlighted alleged inconsistencies in official accounts regarding the timeline of events.
The coverage also suggested that local political leaders may themselves have been unclear about how the municipality first discovered the fraud.
However, Mayor Altmeisch argued that such criticism misses the core issue at hand.
The public discussion has become too focused on administrative details such as the timing of the complaint and who knew what and when, which he considers secondary.
In his view, the real challenge is to address the underlying vulnerabilities in digital communications and the growing risks associated with artificial intelligence.
He stressed the need for greater scepticism and vigilance in this area, rather than dwelling on minor discrepancies in municipal procedures.
The mayor also responded to suggestions from Minister Gloden that procedural mistakes had been made in Differdange and that a so-called four-eyes principle should be introduced for financial controls.
The current system already involves more than two people checking invoices before payment is made, he concluded. While there is always room to further strengthen security measures, the necessary safeguards are already in place.
