Meijburg CEO suspected of intimidating a witness

The Public Prosecutor in Noord-Holland launched a criminal investigation into the CEO of KPMG Meijburg Wilbert Kannekens. He is a person of interest in a witness tampering case, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor confirmed to the Telegraaf.

According to the Telegraaf, Kannekens allegedly prevented a partner at the tax consultancy from making a statement about an incident involving a Moroccan employee, who was bullied to the extent that he left the firm. Influencing or intimidating a witness is considered a serious offense and can carry a prison sentence of up to four years.

The investigation was launched based on a report filed by Ad Aerts - a former partner at KPMG Meijburg. Aerts left the consultancy lat year. According to him, the leadership of Meijburg impeded him when he tried to make a statement as a witness. The statement was about one of the leaders at the firm threatening Moroccan employee Karim Aachboun, according to the newspaper. Aerts was then told what to say about the incident in his witness statement - deny it, the Telegraaf says. 

Meijburg is part of the global audit company KPMG and counts some of the Netherlands' richest people as its clients, including the Royal family. A spokesperson for the company told the newspaper that they don't know about the investigation and that they "find the allegations ridiculous".