Misappropriation of funds: three priorities for Caritas Luxembourg

Following the announcement on Friday that it had filed a complaint for the misappropriation of an estimated 61 million euros, Caritas Luxembourg has received countless messages of solidarity and support from institutions, private companies and individuals. The not-for-profit organisation, which is calmly continuing to do its utmost to pursue its goal of supporting the most disadvantaged people in society, is now seeking solutions to ensure that its activities can continue. A list of priorities has been drawn up, the first of which concerns Caritas Luxembourg employees.

Members of the Board of Directors and General Management spoke this Monday morning before 310 of the total of nearly 500 employees that Caritas Luxembourg has both here in the Grand Duchy and elsewhere in the world. ‘We would like to reassure our staff, who are deeply shaken by these recent announcements. We have set up counselling sessions for members of staff who wish to receive them during this period. Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Europa have also offered us their support in this regard’, announced Marc Crochet, Chief Executive.

From this week, Caritas Luxembourg will be able to count on the support of an auditing company that has volunteered to check financial procedures and to identify and change any technical and/or human shortcomings. These findings will undoubtedly shed light on how a misappropriation of funds of this scale, and over a period of nearly six months, could have been possible. The financial losses include transfers from Caritas Luxembourg accounts and reserves, as well as credit lines that were opened thereby diverting funds that the organisation never actually had at its disposal.

Discussions have, therefore, also been opened with the banks and the Luxembourg government. The aim is to negotiate with the banks in order to meet Caritas Luxembourg’s financial needs in the short term, pending more comprehensive solutions. The government, which has strongly condemned the misappropriation of the funds, is trying to identify solutions to ensure the continuity of activities on behalf of the most disadvantaged people in Luxembourg.

‘As an investigation is underway, we have to respect the confidentiality of the investigation, but we are cooperating fully with the judicial authorities to ensure that the investigations can continue as smoothly as possible and we note that a person has been indicted. We must, however, now focus on continuing our work in the field,’ explained Marc Crochet, Caritas Luxembourg’s Chief Executive.

In the short term, the activities carried out by Caritas Luxembourg will, therefore, continue, and the people in need who depend on the organisation’s help can continue to count on its support.