“The financial irregularities covered in the media are not the basis for the sacking,” Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters told Flanders Today. “I have no problem with whistle-blowers, but a number of the allegations contained in the media coverage are not correct.”

Dedecker stands by his claims, but Peeters insists that there is not enough evidence of financial mismanagement to bring a case against Fontaine. “The board of directors also looked into other allegations that did not make the papers. It appears there was a problem with staff policy. Yesterday [3 September] the chairman of the board also flew to New York to speak to staff,” Peeters said.

Fontaine is accused of living the high life in New York on his salary of between €200,000 and €250,000, while at the same time depriving his staff of basic benefits like workplace accident insurance or health insurance – the staff are employed on US contracts instead of being given more generous Belgian conditions. According to Dedecker, Peeters had been aware for some time that not all was well, but declined to take steps. In the end, the problems between Fontaine and his staff led to his downfall: it was insiders at Flanders House who blew the whistle to Dedecker.

Flanders House was the brainchild of Geert Bourgeois from the period when he was Flemish minister for foreign policy under Peeters I. Bourgeois resigned when his NVA party left the ruling cartel with CD&H in the federal government, just weeks before Flanders House was officially opened in February. The initiative has been criticised at home, largely on the grounds of expense: Flanders House occupies the 44th floor of the historic New York Times building in the heart of Manhattan.

Fontaine was born in Grimbergen and studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven. He worked for an American sports equipment retail business based in Brussels. That led him to move to Cleveland, Ohio, where he had a string of jobs in online commerce, including a spell at the top of eBay France.

Fontaine’s experience in online jobs may explain his alleged lack of people skills. He is said to have poisoned relations with established sponsors of Flanders House, like KBC bank. In one case, he made a unilateral decision to move the traditional 11 July reception (marking Flanders Day) away from KBC’s New York offices. He relocated it to the Museum of Modern Art, which is currently staging an exhibition on James Ensor. When this plan fell through, Fontaine came back to KBC, with a promise to pay half of the bill for the reception.

The money has never been paid, and Fontaine claimed that a poster advertising an event to mark 21 July (the Belgian national day) broke the terms of the agreement between Flanders House and KBC.

“The Flemish government does not intend to change its policy on public diplomacy, although we will be looking to see if the structure and working of Flanders House can be improved,” Peeters said. “We have invested a great deal of money in Flanders House. It’s a terrible shame that the whole project is now suffering such damage after barely a year.”

Fontaine finally broke his silence at the weekend, with an interview in Het Nieuwsblad. “I have never committed fraud or taken any money that was not mine,” he said. “I’ve had a long career, in senior posts. I was responsible for La Redoute, the largest website in France. I was director general of eBay France. Do you really think I would make a thief of myself for a few thousand euros? It’s simply ridiculous.” His problems with the Flemish government, he said, amounted to no more than “a difference in management vision”.