Military intelligence service linked to major bribery case surrounding Dutch police, Defense vehicles: Report

Dutch military intelligence service MIVD for years worked with an official, knowing that there were corruption complaints against him, AD reports based on statements from those involved.

According to the newspaper, the statements were made under oath, in front of a judge, by colleagues of the official and employees of Defense's Integrity Office. The official in question, Jacques H., is appearing in court on Tuesday as one of six police and Defense employees suspected of involvement in a major bribery scandal involving the services' fleets and vehicle supplier PON.

H. managed part of the MIVD's fleet three days a week, according to AD. He arranged "secret vehicles" for the service - vehicles not registered with the RWD, the Dutch road traffic service. H. himself also drove such an unregistered car for several years. And he managed a fake rental company JaHo-rentals for the MIVD, according to the newspaper. Exactly what this company was used for, is unclear.

The statements also show that the MIVD was warned in 2010 that Jacques H. was someone who was "stained", but no action was taken against him, AD reports.

H. is one of six officials appearing in court on Tuesday in the bribery case involving vehicle supplier PON. According to the Public Prosecutor, these officials accepted bribes from PON between 2001 and 2011. With these bribes - which included discounts on cars, free winter tires and foreign trips - PON hoped to get lucrative fleet contracts from the Dutch police and Defense. The bribery was revealed by a whistleblower from PON in 2011.

Earlier this month former Defense Minister Hans Hillen (CDA) admitted to NRC that he hid details about the case from parliament when he was Minister. Hillen wanted to solve the matter internally and said that if he shared everything with the parliamentarians, "I would not have time to run the armed forces".

Two weeks ago Nieuwsuur revealed that Henk Kamp received 'gifts' from PON during his time as Minister of Defense. Kamp was never considered a suspect in this case, despite these gifts, which were valued around 250 euros. Nieuwsuur called this remarkable, given the fact that one of the officials appearing in court on Tuesday is suspected of bribery for accepting a discount of around 236 euros.