Marie-Josée Jacobs, alongside Charles Weiler, spoke with great emotion to the MPs according to the members present. Photo: Chambre des Deputes du Luxembourg

Marie-Josée Jacobs, alongside Charles Weiler, spoke with great emotion to the MPs according to the members present. Photo: Chambre des Deputes du Luxembourg

The former chairwoman of Caritas board of directors Marie-Josée Jacobs told the members of the special parliamentary committee the truth. Above all, she regretted that the banks had not taken a constructive attitude when it came to helping Caritas. The banks remain silent on the affair.

“I hope that the banks will have as much conscience and sense of responsibility as Marie-Josée Jacobs and that they will respond favourably to the committee’s request for a hearing.” This sentence from (Piraten), observer delegate on the Caritas special committee sums up today’s hour-long hearing. “In front of the MPs, she asked the question that I have been asking myself since the beginning of this affair: what about the responsibility of the banks?”

Waiting for the banks

It’s a question that many MPs would like to put in person to the heads of Spuerkeess and BGL BNP Paribas, ranging from responsibility at the time the offences were committed to responsibility when solutions had to be found in a hurry. “Not a very clear role,” says  (déi Gréng). “Marie-Josée Jacobs noted the lack of willingness to find solutions to help Caritas,” explains the MP. “It’s an absence that she regretted.”

The banks implicated were invited to comment. “At the present time, they have not officially responded to this invitation,” says Clement. The chairman of the special committee, (CSV) is expected to give an update on the follow-up to these invitations on Wednesday following the hearing of Marc Crochet, the former director general of the Fondation Caritas Luxembourg on Wednesday 26 March. For the time being, whilst the committee at the beginning of the month had extended its work until June, no meeting is scheduled after the one on 26 March.

End of Caritas still unclear

The other point stressed by Jacobs was the feeling that the fate of Caritas had been sealed from the outside. “She regretted that the crisis committee had been made up of people who, for the most part, did not come from the social sector, and that they had taken advantage of the absence of the management committee, whose members were all on sick leave, to organise the end of Caritas,” says Bernard. Clement understood the same thing.

There’s also regret that responsibility for the decisions that led to the creation of Hellef Um Terrain from the ashes of Caritas could not be established. What emerges is that the choice was made to save the foundation’s national activities to the detriment of its international activities.

Will Crochet share these analyses? Will he be able to point to any elements that might help to apportion blame? The answer may be revealed on Wednesday.

This article was originally published in .

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