55 witnesses to court in Limburg political corruption case

The Roermond politician Jos van Rey, who is suspected of corruption, may only call 55 witnesses in his case, excluding Minister Ivo Opstelten of Security and Justice, Herman Bohlaar of the Public Prosecutor and former Minister Liesbeth Spies of Internal affairs. The Volkskrant reports. According to the newspaper, the court in Rotterdam ruled yesterday that the above mentioned officials can not make any statements that would be in the interest of the defense. Va Rey's lawyer last month initially listed 150 witnesses to call on. At the insistence of the judge the list was shortened to 75 witnesses. The court yesterday agreed to hear 55 witnesses in total. The court has not decided on whether State Secretary Fred Teeven of Security and Justice will be called as a witness. He first wants to investigate the reports of a failed telephone tapping. In September 2012 Van Rey allegedly discussed a mayoral candidate with Teeven, but the conversation was not recorded due to "technical problems". Ricardo Offermanns, the former mayor of Meerssen, will be called to testify. Van Rey gave him secret information about interview questions. Offermanns has been convicted for accepting this information. He would have become mayor of Roermond.