This view is shared by the Federal Minister responsible for publicly owned companies, the Flemish Green Petra De Sutter. However, she adds that Bpost will probably have to reimburse the government for the amounts that it was overcharged.

At the end of last year, Bpost fired its CEO Dirk Tirez and two directors, as they were linked to possible malpractice during the procedure for the awarding of a contract for the distribution of newspapers to those with subscriptions. The distribution of newspapers to the homes of those with subscriptions is subsided by the Federal Government. An internal audit later revealed that they had made illegal price agreements with newspaper publishers DPG Media and Mediahuis and distribution company PPP in order to win contract.

Following this Bpost also examined its other tenders and government contracts. The Belgian post office says that preliminary results of its investigation show that “Bpost’s margins on certain services provided to the Belgian state may not be acceptable under law”. However, Bpost does not yet want to disclose which contracts are involved.

“It concerns a number of services for which the bpost’s margins would are too high,” the post office’s spokeswoman Veerle Van Mierlo says.

The trade unions met with Bpost’s management on Monday evening just prior to the press release being sent out. Luc Tegethoff of the liberal public sector union VSOA tolds journalists that “This obviously is very bad, especially coming so soon after the news about the irregularities with newspaper contracts. On the other hand, this might be an opportunity to make a fresh start and start again as a company with a clean sheet.”

Bpost has warned investors that the findings are “expected” to have a financial impact on the company.  It has withdrawn the financial forecasts for this year that it had released previously.

Bpost says that preliminary estimates point to an impact on operating profits for this year of between 25 and 50 million euro. The group has not disclosed the impact on past earnings. This is “pending further legal and financial analysis”.

Federal Minister responsible for publicly owned companies, telecommunications and the post office Petra De Sutter told journalists that it goes without saying that Bpost will have to refund any sums that it has overcharged the government.

Ms De Sutter also believes that is good that the internal investigation is uncovering possible malpractice as this means that “We are cleaning up. It was those at the top that were responsible for this and they are no longer there. Bpost can start again with a clean sheet and I can only applaud that.”

Ms De Sutter was keen to stress that she also does not yet know which contracts are involved.