Dutch banks, insurers to keep closer eye on politicians: report

Dutch banks and insurers will soon place all prominent politicians and their immediate families under stricter supervision in an effort to prevent bribery, fraud and support to terrorists. Financial institutions will receive the instruction to keep a closer eye on the Netherlands' rulers this summer, newspaper AD reports.

Any transactions that raise suspicions of, for example, money laundering or taking bribes must be immediately reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit Nederland, which falls under the National Police.

This increased supervision will apply to, among others, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the other members of his cabinet, parliamentarians, high judges, the leaders of the Armed Forces and the executives of state owned companies. Their partner, children and parents will also be subject to this stricter regime, according to the newspaper.

"Internationally, politicians appear to be prone to corruption", money laundering expert and former Public Prosecutor Cees Schaap said to the newspaper. "Think of accepting bribes, for example in large tenders. These bribes can be paid to family members, so the stricter investigation also applies to them."

According to Schaap, the Dutch financial institutions aren't pleased with this new measure. "This is going to cause a lot of work. With foreign politicians we now that corruption occurs, but in the Netherlands this phenomenon is still smaller. Nevertheless, many thousands of people will get extra screening."