Audit office puts the full i-Police bill at 139 million euros, including licences nobody uses

The failed i-Police digitisation project cost a total of 139.4 million euros in public money between 2016 and 2025. That is the finding of a 117-page audit published on Thursday by the Court of Audit at the request of the Chamber, VRT NWS, La Libre and RTBF report. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (MR) spoke earlier this year of 75.8 million euros, but according to the Court of Audit that figure covered only the development invoices of the French IT contractor Sopra Steria. On top of that come, among other things, 20.6 million euros for consultants and more than 30 million euros in software licences. According to RTBF, only around 42 million euros went on software and programmes the police still use today.

The licences stand out in particular. For 21.6 million euros' worth, around 70 percent of the total, the police no longer have any use: licences worth 7.3 million euros were never used, while others worth 14.2 million became unusable when the project stopped. The Court of Audit also found that there were no clear milestones for the two pilot projects that were due within 12 to 18 months. According to RTBF, the police had already committed 86.5 million euros while those pilots were badly delayed, losing an important means of leverage over the contractor. La Libre points out that the project was 21.5 million euros short from the start, because part of the funding was to come from unspent staff budgets that ended up being used elsewhere. The police also remained structurally dependent on outside consultants, because they could not offer specialists attractive pay.

i-Police was launched in 2017 under the Michel government, with an estimated budget of 131.9 million euros. In November 2021 the De Croo government approved awarding it to Sopra Steria for 299.7 million euros, after which Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), then interior minister, signed the contract. Her successor Quintin terminated it unilaterally on 24 December 2025. The Court of Audit explicitly does not rule on who was responsible. Quintin responded that the serious shortcomings on the contractor's side still need thorough investigation, and that the police now need modular, affordable applications rather than another giant project. The federal police say several recommendations match their own findings.

The report comes in a week in which a spokesperson for Verlinden, now justice minister, was charged in the judicial investigation linked to the case. De Tijd writes that the audit increases the pressure on the minister, while De Morgen reconstructs how the project went off the rails. N-VA MP Maaike De Vreese sees no reason for now to set up a parliamentary committee of inquiry, La Libre reports. Political scientists Nicolas Bouteca (Ghent University) and Dave Sinardet (VUB) tell VRT NWS that Verlinden is in a difficult position, but that her fate is not sealed as long as her party backs her and there is no hard evidence of a conflict of interest. Verlinden denies any wrongdoing and is due to answer questions in the Chamber next week at the earliest.