BBB under investigation over questionable party donations

The government is investigating a possible illegal donation to the farmers’ party BBB, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations told BNR. It involves a donation in kind from ReMarkAble, the communications agency of Wim Groot Koerkamp, one of the party’s founders.

ReMarkAble has done much work for the BBB since the party’s founding, ranging from managing its online store to distributing press releases. The company sent BBB over 200,000 euros in invoices in 2022, according to BNR. Treasurer Jan Brok told the broadcaster that the ReMarkAble had granted the BBB a discount of 40 to 70 euros on the usual hourly rate, which is 110 euros per hour, depending on the nature of the work.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, responsible for supervising the financing of political parties, considers such discounts to be donations to the party. “If a person or company provides a service for free or at a discount on the market price for that service, the difference should be seen as a gift in kind,” the Ministry spokesperson told BNR.

By law, such donations must be published in the party’s annual reports. However, the BBB’s 2022 report does not list any in-kind donations. The 2021 report did mention an in-kind donation from ReMarkAble amounting to 45,000 euros, but the accountant then refused to sign off on the item because of insufficient “audit information about the accuracy and completeness” of the donation.

If the Ministry concludes that the party violated the rules, it could impose an administrative fine. But according to BNR, that hardly ever happens. In theory, the Ministry could also order the party to repay the illegal donation, Ruud Koole, professor of political sciences at Leiden University, told the broadcaster. “In pracitce, the Ministry is not very proactive in this regard.”

The BBB and Wim Groot Koerkamp, who left the party in 2021, did not respond to BNR’s requests for comment.