Ex-Senator wants Justice Minister, Secretary to take witness stand

The Roermond politician Jos van Rey, who is suspected of corruption, wants State Secretary Fred Teeven and Minister Ivo Opstelten of Security and Justice to testify. This emerged during the pre-trail in the corruption case in Rotterdam today. Van Rey wants the politicians to testify because of a phone call between Van Rey and Teeven about a mayor appointment in Roermond. The recording of this phone call was allegedly lost due to an accidental malfunction of the recording equipment. In addition to Teeven and Opstelten, Van Rey's defense also wants to hear from, among others, former Minister of Internal Affairs Liesbeth Spies and Herman Bolhaar of the Public Prosecutor. From Bolhaar Van Rey and his lawyer, Gitte Stevens, wants to know what "his role, and that of his political contacts, has been in this whole process." Apart from the leaders, they also want statements from those who worked as "listening officers" on September 20th, 2012, the day of the conversation. The Public Prosecutor has formulated 7 charges against the 69-year-old Van Rey, involving bribery, election fraud and money laundering. He was allegedly bribed with more than 97 thousand euro by his friend and project developer Piet van Pol. Van Rey also recruited votes for elections and his VVD party member Ricardo Offermanns provided confidential information to assist him in his application for the mayoralty of Roermond. Lawyer Gitte Stevens argued that there can not be a fair trial against Van Rey because character assassination has been committed on him by leaks to the media. According to Stevens, sources within or around the investigation team deliberately leaked information.