Ice rink shooting suspect ID'd as ex-boss of bankrupt firm

The former director of a bankrupt family business in Rijswijk is the main suspect in a shooting at the Thialf ice skating stadium in Heerenveen on Saturday. Businessman Bert Jonker was injured in the shooting. Jonker's company picked up the bankrupt estate of the main suspect's company in 2015, the Volkskrant reports.

The suspect, Charles van der W., fled to Brazil two years ago just before his family business E-S Projects went bankrupt. He took about 100 thousand euros from the company's accounts before fleeing the country. After the company's collapse, Jonker's company Clafis acquired it.

People who know Van der W. told the Volkskrant that he was furious with how Jonker went to work. His brother Walter - the only other shareholder in E-S Projects before its acquisition - told the newspaper that he can not imagine Van der W. would go so far as to shoot Jonker, but points out that Jonker is the source of his brother's frustrations.

In 2014 Van der W. himself approached Jonker with a proposal to buy his company. Jonker was enthusiastic, one of his spokespersons told the Volkskrant. Even before the acquisition was complete Clafis Rotterdam moved in with E-S Projects in Rijswijk. But later auditing revealed that Charles van der W. concealed a loan and some activities in Brazil, the spokesperson said. "Bert was firm about it, the deal did not go through. Possibly there is some anger", the spokesperson said.

The deal falling through made E-S Projects' bankruptcy inevitable, brother Walter said. He was appointed director by the bankruptcy administrator after Van der W.'s abrupt departure. "The company did not have to go bankrupt", Walter said to the newspaper. "That's all I have to say about the downfall of our company. You'd better consult Mr. Jonker, who knows what went wrong." E-S Projects was declared bankrupt in 2015 and the bankruptcy administrator sold the remains to Clafis.

According to the bankruptcy administrator who worked on E-S Project's case, Jos Reuser, Walter carries no blame in the bankruptcy. But he has no good word to say about Charles van der W. "I find it evidently unforgivable that if you see that your ship is sinking, you stop te cash in your wallet and go off into the sunset", he said to the newspaper.