Caritas Luxembourg has announced the establishment of a crisis committee following the embezzlement of €61 million at the local non-profit organisation.
Caritas noted that, "faced with this crisis of unprecedented magnitude", the Caritas Luxembourg Foundation and Caritas Accueil et Solidarité Asbl "reacted immediately and took the necessary measures".
Their boards of directors are thus taking measures to: preserve and continue the activities and jobs of the entities; restore confidence in the entities and protect the Caritas name; analyse the situation and identify future options in order to recover the stolen money.
In order to assume its responsibilities, Caritas said that it had ensured July salary payments would reach employees on time and that the boards of directors had decided to establish a crisis committee with "the power and agility to make the necessary decisions to restore the trust of donors, the general public and public authorities for the entities". Christian Billon, an economic advisor and former certified auditor with experience in the social sector, will chair this crisis committee. He will be joined on the committee by Marie-Josée Jacobs, Marc Hengen, Nathalie Frisch and Philippe Sylvestre.
Caritas noted that the boards of directors believed it was "imperative that an external and independent person supervise governance during the crisis to restore trust".
The boards of directors have also mandated PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to provide operational support to the crisis committee, under the responsibility of Tiphaine Gruny, approved auditor and partner at PwC, and to conduct investigations "to uncover the facts", under the responsibility of Michael Weis, partner at PwC.
Caritas said that it had communicated these decisions internally to staff on Sunday 28 July 2024 and that it would continue to keep staff informed as the situation develops.
