Controversial Amsterdam school eavesdropped on Education Inspectorate: report

The director of the Cornelius Haga Lyceum in Amsterdam planted eavesdropping equipment in the office assigned to the Education Inspectorate for its investigation into the school, four sources around the Islamic high school told NRC. According to the newspaper, it heard one of the recordings and confirmed its authenticity.

The Inspectorate conducted an intensive investigation at the Cornelius Haga Lyceum between March and May 2019, after intelligence service AIVD warned that there were anti-democratic tendencies at the school. The Inspectorate eventually concluded that the school management was guilty of "maladministration, conflicts of interest, and self-enrichment", but there are no indications that "some of the lessons have a Salafist character"

During the investigation, the school made an office available to the inspectors, where they had sensitive conversations with each other, with pupils, and with staff. These conversations were recorded and eavesdropped on multiple times, according to the newspaper. 

NRC's sources said that school director Soner Atasoy wanted to keep an eye on the Inspectorate's investigation and on what employees of the school said about him and the school. Atasoy denies that he made these recordings, but told the newspaper that he does have them. "I got that on a USB stick," he said, according to NRC. "I don't know from whom."

The Education Inspectorate told NRC that there was a "suspicion" that the room given to inspectors to use was being tapped. After that, the inspectors slightly adjusted their working methods at the school, switching rooms "with some regularity" and conducting confidential conversation by phone or outside. The office in question was never searched for eavesdropping equipment because there was "insufficient cause" for it and it would have led to "unnecessary unrest", the Inspectorate said.

According ton NRC, the inspectorate recently receive "concrete signals" that their inspectors were eavesdropped on at the school and is considering steps.