Community service for corrupt ex-VVD politician

The court in Rotterdam sentenced former VVD alderman in Roermond Jos van Rey to 240 hours of community service on Tuesday. The Public Prosecutor demanded a 2 year prison sentence and will appeal against the court ruling, NOS reports.

The judge gave Van Rey a lower sentence due to his advance age - he's 71 years old. The judge also ruled that given the extensive publicity surrounding the trial, the chance of recurrence is small.

The court ruled that Van Rey violated his confidentiality responsibility in the appointment process for mayor of Roermond by giving a VVD candidate questions that will be asked and the desired answered. According to the judge, he made a "puppet show" of the procedure. The court also found him guilty of corruption - even though he did not make a lot of money through this, he should have known better and acted differently given his politic experience. "He did not act as an honest politician", the judge said, adding that he damaged the public's trust in politics.

Van Rey faced charges of official corruption, money laundering, electoral fraud and leaking confidential information. He was acquitted of money laundering and vote recruitment.

Van Rey, the municipality of Roermond and the province of Limburg will first study the verdict before responding.