Judge in The Hague accused of falsifying information on appeal rulings

The Court of Appeal in The Hague has reported a judge to the Public Prosecution Service for falsifying information on appeal rulings and then signing off on those verdicts. It involved 43 minor criminal cases, the court said.

The appeals court discovered in December that the judge, one of the team leaders in the criminal sector, adjusted the involved verdicts to make it look like they’ve been ruled on by three judges. In reality, there was only one verdict in each case, made by the judge himself.

The court told NRC that it received “no understandable explanation” from the judge on why he did this, despite “frequent discussions” in recent months. The judge in question is “no longer employed by the Judiciary,” the court said. It did not say whether the judge resigned or was dismissed.

As a result of the judge’s falsified rulings, the court wrongly declared approximately 110,000 euros too much for two years to the Council of the Judiciary, the national administrative body for the judiciary. The Council announced a nationwide, external investigation to rule out that “this method has not also been applied in other courts.”

The Council added that it had no objective reason to assume this has been the case. The investigation is just a precaution, the Council said.