Lawyer blames Wilders info leak on unclear policy

According to Peter Plasman, the lawyer representing police officer Faris K. who is suspected of leaking confidential police information, the Safety and Security Department's policy on who information can be shared with is very unclear. It is left up to the security officer himself to decide what information can be shared with who, Plasman said during a pro-forma hearing against K. in the court in The Hague on Monday, NU.nl reports.

The Safety and Security Department is the police department responsible for protecting the royal family and threatened politicians, among others. K. was part of the team that protected PVV leader Geert Wilders. He was responsible fr so-called vicinity scans. K. is suspected of sharing information about Wilders' place of residence, security and transport between July 2016 and December 2016.

According to the Public Prosecutor, K. also leaked information about Barack Obama's daughter when she visited the Netherlands. K. told a woman about police deployment during the young woman's visit. He also told this same woman about a new service weapon. K. is also suspected of searching the police systems for private purposes, thought he Prosecutor stressed that there is no evidence that he shared information from the police systems with criminals.

Lawyer Plasman previously said that his client was too loose tongued and can only be accused of "talking tough to girls".

K. was arrested in February last year, in the middle of the campaigns for the parliamentary elections. Following his arrest, Wilders temporarily halted his campaign. He was previously convicted of violating professional secrecy in 2008 and was given a conditionally suspended sentence of 100 hours of community service.

PVV leader Geert Wilders tweeted about Faris K. on Monday: "I am on the death lists of Al Qaida and the Taliban. I have not exactly argued for more Moroccans in the Netherlands. I want to de-Islamize the Netherlands. Why on earth did I get secured by one Faris K., who had been convicted before. What fool came up with that?"