In mid-October, we revealed to you that Alain Palmans was no longer the general manager of the Liège intermunicipal water company (CILE). The socialist had been dismissed for serious misconduct by the board of directors. A decision that was taken unanimously, following a two-week internal investigation, conducted jointly by the Executive Board and the Audit Committee.
This Friday, by means of a press release, the CILE announced that it had initiated with an investigating judge in Liège “the filing of a complaint with civil action once morest its former Director General, Mr. Alain Palmans, and once morest X”. A decision, too, decided unanimously by its members of the Board, following “the recent discovery of new elements revealing potential criminal offenses”.
And to specify however, that “in order to preserve the capacity of the judicial authorities to investigate the file in due form, the CILE will not pronounce on the nature of the alleged facts. In doing so, it intends to ensure that the judicial authorities can provide all the necessary clarity and, if necessary, obtain compensation for the damage suffered”.
Finally, following this initiative, the Board of Directors “also approved the implementation of several audits within the departments of the organization. By this means, the administrators wish to make clear on the potential existence of other facts which should be disputed”. And to conclude: “These steps are part of the long work undertaken since last October to restore sound management within CILE and guarantee to all of its partners and customers a quality of service that meets their expectations. legitimate. »
Recall of facts
As a reminder, last October, the decision to dismiss him focused, we summarized, on three main aspects.
His employment contract, first of all. Since Alain Palmans had negotiated with the CILE that he be granted ten years of seniority but also that if he were to be unable to work and fall on the mutual, it would undertake to pay the difference between the allowance and his full salary. Suffice to say that the person concerned therefore easily exceeded the ceiling of €260,000. A file which is also under investigation by the OCRC (central office for the repression of corruption), as well as a suspicious public contract.
Secondly, let’s mention multiple trips (San Francisco, Dakar, Israel, South Korea, Australia, to cite only a few examples) paid for by the CILE but whose real interest for the Liège intermunicipal company raises questions.
And finally, “the lead connection file”. To put it simply, distributors like CILE have had to set up a vast program to replace connection pipes containing lead. They must keep their data up to date and send them to the Walloon Region. However, it appeared that the figures communicated on this subject internally by Alain Palmans were completely different from those given to the administration. Several administrators believe that they were deliberately deceived by their former “CEO”. Hence the decision to dismiss him for serious misconduct.
