Belgian Justice Minister's Partner Worked at Firm Advising Winner of Failed Police IT Project
Annelies Verlinden's office is pushing back on any suggestion of a conflict of interest after it emerged her long-term partner worked at a law firm that advised Sopra Steria throughout its bid for the i-Police contract, a project that cost taxpayers nearly 76 million euros before it was scrapped.
Belgium's Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden has a long-term relationship with a manager at a law firm that advised Sopra Steria throughout its bid for the i-Police contract, the police digitalization project the French consultancy won in 2021 and that the government terminated this year after years of delays and no working system to show for it. No evidence has emerged that the partner worked directly on the bid itself.
Verlinden's office rejected any suggestion of impropriety, saying such a characterization would imply the existence of an unlawful advantage or a conflict of interest, which it said is clearly not the case. The minister faced a special parliamentary hearing on the project in March 2025, where she denied any conflict of interest.
A second link to the same company
The relationship adds to an earlier connection between Verlinden and Sopra Steria that has already drawn scrutiny. Before entering government, she was a co-managing partner at the Belgian arm of the law firm DLA Piper and personally represented Sopra Steria as its lawyer in a 2019 case before the European Union's General Court in Luxembourg, about eighteen months before she became interior minister in 2020. She has said there is no link between that earlier legal work and her later role overseeing the project, and that she acted with complete impartiality.
Belgium set aside roughly 300 million euros for i-Police, a project meant to modernize the police force's IT systems, build a shared database and improve how officers exchange information and flag threats. About 75.8 million euros had already been paid to Sopra Steria by the time the government canceled the contract this year, leaving taxpayers with a bill approaching 76 million euros for a system that was never delivered. Prime Minister Bart De Wever has continued to back Verlinden over the project despite the mounting questions.
