Criminals infiltrate Dutch municipalities dozens of times per year: report

Criminals infiltrate Dutch municipalities at least dozens of times per year, according to research by RTL Nieuws of data from 342 municipalities requested via the Open Government Act. They bribe officials for false passports, commit fraud with fake invoices, or steal sensitive information, among other things.

Between 2020 and 2022, over 100 civil servants have been reprimanded for criminally crossing the line, for example, by leaking sensitive information or committing fraud.

An example is the Hague official Mildred van D., who issued fake passports to various criminals, including alleged drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi, suspected of involvement in multiple assassinations. According to RTL, Van D.’s fake passport helped Taghi to flee to Dubai, where he was eventually arrested. The case came to light in 2020.

Last year, another Hague official - Romario P. - was convicted of selling eight fake passports and driver’s licenses. And yet another civil servant from The Hague - Vandana D. - got seconded to Noordwijk after stealing 640,000 euros in The Hague. There, she provided a false passport to top Belgian criminal Flor B., among other things.

Other cases involved massive fraud, such as a Doetinchem civil servant who had almost 2 million euros worth of fake invoices paid into his sister’s bank account over a period of 12 years.

The number of criminal infiltration in Dutch municipalities may be higher as not all corrupt officials are caught in their misconduct.

“Unacceptable,” outgoing Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgöz said about the figures. “This shows once again that municipal officials with certain information can be interesting for criminal organizations. Organized crime does not thrive without corruption. That is why, since the middle of this year, I have been working with other Ministers on setting up an approach to help us as a government to be better equipped against corruption.”