PVV “verkenner” Van Strien steps down over fraud
claims
November
27, 2023
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/van-strien-begins-canvassing-parties-after-denying-fraud-claims/
The man
picked by Geert Wilders to take soundings from political parties about the
possible shape of a new Dutch government has stepped down after coming under
fire over allegations of financial irregularities at the weekend.
Van Strien
said in a statement the “unrest” surrounding his person would be detrimental to
the coalition formation process.
Gom van
Strien was accused of fraudulently transferring shares in Utrecht Holdings,
where he was on the management board until 2009, to an investment firm in his
wife’s name.
Utrecht
Holdings, a subsidiary of Utrecht University and UMC medical hospital that
specialises in marketing medical innovations, filed police complaints of
bribery and deception against two former managers in March.
The
managers were not named at the time, but Dutch media reported at the weekend
that the complaint referred to Van Strien and his successor.
The
72-year-old PVV senator denied all wrongdoing, but admitted he had not informed
Wilders and parliamentary chairwoman Vera Bergkamp before he was appointed as
verkenner, or scout, on Friday.
Wilders
told RTL he had full confidence in his colleague. “There is no question of him
being prosecuted, let alone convicted,” he said.
Investment firm
Van Strien
was due to meet the leaders of the three largest parties in the new parliament
– Wilders, PvdA-GroenLinks leader Frans Timmermans and Dilan Yesilgöz of the
right-wing liberal VVD – on Monday but has since tendered his resignation to
PVV leader Geert Wilders.
He was also
due to talk to the remaining 13 leaders about their preferences for a new
cabinet on Tueasday. Yesilgöz said on Friday that her party would not join the
new cabinet but was prepared to support a minority right-wing coalition.
The
allegations against Van Strien relate to an investment firm, Hereswint
Investments, that he and his successor at Utrecht Holdings founded in 2006.
A few days
later the company bought a 56% share in a spin-off company of Utrecht Holdings,
Nodens BV, for €125,000 in a deal that was signed off by Van Strien.
Wives’ names
Van Strien
and his successor allegedly obscured their relationship to the company by
registering their 32% stake in their wives’ names. By 2015 Hereswint was the
sole owner of Nodens, which paid out a total of more than €2 million in
dividends.
Utrecht
Holdings filed a formal complaint earlier this year after commissioning a
report by Deloitte Forensic and Dispute Services into the affair. “An inquiry
revealed that these (former) colleagues did not act in the interests of Utrecht
Holdings,” the company said.
The
prosecution service (Openbare Ministerie) told RTL Nieuws that it had received
a dossier from police but would not go into more detail.
Van Strien
confirmed he had received a letter from Utrecht Holdings in January outlining
the allegations. “In my view they are unfounded and I strongly distance myself
from them,” he said.
He added
that he would take action against the university if the claims were made
public, “because this has purely been done to damage my good name.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário