Dutch gov't bought wiretapping system from Israel without informing parliament: report
The Ministry of Justice and Security has purchased a new telephone and data-tapping system for the police from a controversial Israeli defense company without informing parliament. The secret purchase was intended to quietly replace a broken tapping system bought from another Israeli company in 2019, NRC reports based on its own investigation.
The decision to quietly purchase a new system from the controversial Israeli defense company Cognyte was made this year when Dilan Yeşilgöz was still Minister of Justice and Security and Dick Schoof the highest civil servant at the Ministry, the newspaper found. They hoped to conceal the failure of the other brand-new tapping system, which the police could never get working. But the secretly purchase system has also not worked to date.
The police are now stuck with two new, non-functioning tapping systems and are still forced to work with their outdated and technically flawed tapping system, also from Cognyte, but then still called Verint.
The only mention NRC found of the brand new system in the Ministry’s documents sent to parliament is talk of an “upgrade.” However, several directly involved police officers and prosecutors told NRC that parliament was misinformed - this is not an upgrade, but a new tapping system which also does not work. The Ministry made no mention of the price.
The secret purchase is extra controversial because parliament previously raised concerns about Cognyte. There were multiple reports that the Israeli company was abusing its listening devices for espionage, which is why parliament demanded in 2016 to say goodbye to the Cognyte system that is still being used by the police.
MPs were also concerned by the old Cognyte system because its maintenance and repair were carried out by Israelis flown in when problems arose. The Dutch police had no access to the software and hardware core of the Israeli system and, therefore, could not say what was in it.
Under pressure from parliament, the Ministry bought a new tapping system via public tender in 2019 from another Israeli defense company, Elbit. Parliament agreed to the purchase under the condition that the Netherlands would maintain the system, among other things. But for five years, the police have been unable to get the system, called i360, to work.
For years, the Ministry of Justice and Security attributed the issues to teething problems. From December 2023, the Ministry started blaming the fact that the system was still not working on the war in Gaza, according to NRC.
In the meantime “the current tap system will be maintained for longer to ensure the continuity of tapping,” the Ministry informed parliament. To this end, the Cognyte system would be “upgraded and placed on a new hardware platform,” the Ministry wrote with no further explanation.
Since parliament’s first concerns in 2016, Cognyte has been directly linked to human rights violations and espionage scandals on several occasions. Last year, the Israeli company was criticized for supplying wiretapping systems to Myanmar, where the regime used them against politicians and journalists, thereby violating human rights. A year earlier, Norway’s central bank stopped investing in Cognyte after a report by a Norwegian government ethics committee determined that it was an “unacceptable risk” and that “the company contributes to serious human rights violations” including abductions and torture.
Current Minister of Justice David van Weel said on Tuesday that he expects the new police eavesdropping and wiretapping system that has been in the works for years will be introduced in the first half of 2025, but members of parliament were not reassured. During the weekly session in the Tweede Kamer on Tuesday, members asked the minister critical questions about this in response to the article in NRC.
The minister claimed the new system discussed in NRC is merely an "upgrade" of the system that is currently being used, and the current system will no longer be supported. This was brought in-house to prevent the police from being left without a wiretap system if there are still problems with the implementation of the new system.
The tests with this new system are nevertheless showing "very promising" results, according to Van Weel. He expects that the police will be able to use it soon.
But opposition MP Michiel van Nispen (SP) said he was getting "different signals" at the police. Coalition MP Lilian Helder (BBB) also said that the stories she has heard from police officers differs greatly from what the minister said.
Jesse Six Dijkstra, from coalition party NSC, is also "not yet completely confident that all the hurdles will be overcome in time".
