D66 withheld report about member's transgressive behavior

D66 leaders hid documents detailing a party member's transgressive behavior for over a year, according to De Volkskrant. At least four party members have requested clarification about the case.

The report, which has been known to party leadership since last year, indicates that party strategist Frans van Drimmelen threatened, stalked and blackmailed a female employee in 2015 and 2016, according to De Volkskrant. The document states the police had a warning conversation with Van Drimmelen, who told De Volkskrant it was "a painful private matter" that he did not want to talk about. The party board commissioned the investigation.

The investigation was still ongoing at the time of the Tweede Kamer elections in March 2021, when Party leader Sigrid Kaag announced there was no evidence of an unsafe environment in D66. "I don't know our party that way," she said, drawing her conclusions from a public report that had been published three weeks prior to the election. Kaag did not comment to the newspaper and, according to the board, did not see the final report.

The employee who said she was targeted by Van Drimmelen attempted to contact both Kaag and the board multiple times about the results of the investigation. An appendix with conclusions in the employee's favor was added to the report after the initial report was published, but the employee was only informed one and a half hours before the election ended on March 17, 2021, according to De Volkskrant.

Former D66 board member Saskia Boelema and Jelle Ages of Jonge Democraten are among those who have demanded clarification. Volkskrant reported three more party members want clarification but wish to remain anonymous.