Evidence of abuse of power emerges in benefits affair: 'Disconcerting picture'

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'Disconcerting picture'
Evidence of abuse of power emerges in benefits affair: 'Disconcerting picture'
Peter Klein
By
Peter Klein
November 18, 2019 00:30
Updated November 18, 2019 06:35
State Secretary Menno Snel for Finance during a debate in the House of Parliament.Image © ANP
Top officials of the tax authorities knowingly stopped childcare surcharges, even in cases where it was already established that parents were simply entitled to them. The unlawful stops were discussed at the highest level by the tax authorities.

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This evidence of abuse of power by the tax authorities appears in documents that Secretary of State Menno Snel (Finance) made public on Friday evening after a request from RTL News and Trouw. On Friday, the Secretary of State said he has no evidence that “offences” have been committed.

In a letter to Parliament, Snel confesses that the top leadership was aware and gave instructions to lower officials to operate “around the edges of the law”. It is unclear whether Snel's predecessor, current VVD minister Eric Wiebes, knew about the “unlawful” actions of the officials. Snel states that “as far as I have been able to tell, this did not happen”.

'Close everything'
The documents show how carelessly the top officials of the tax authorities dealt with the law in the ongoing fraud hunt. The Combiteam Approach Facilitators (CAF) was managed by Hans Blokpoel, then general director of the tax authorities. The reports literally say: “Blokpoel wants to shut everything down, including surcharges, even if they are probably good.”

Blokpoel would discuss this with his boss, the Director General of the Tax Administration, Peter Veld, referred to as the “DG Bel” in the official documents. At that time, in 2014, it was already clear to the top management that innocent civilians are being victims of the massive cessation of surcharges: 80 percent of the approach is good, but 20 percent are duped people who have done nothing wrong, is their own assessment. “How do we include politics in this?”

For months, the agenda for action is that Veld should discuss this with Wiebes. The documents show that Wiebes was informed about the “working methods and results” of the controversial CAF team prior to a Parliamentary debate.

Allowance affair:
Also read:
Benefits affair: top officials gave way to illegal fraud hunting
Minor imperfections: 'crack down hard'
Tackling a childminding agency in Eindhoven, which affected around 300 parents, was also coordinated with the top official boss, DG Peter Veld. In this case, which launched the benefits affair, outdated fake evidence was used to crack down on the agency and parents. Even before the investigation started, it was already internally established that benefits should be stopped for all parents. “The post will be presented by B/T (Tax Authorities/Surcharges, PK) to DG Bel with the request to take swift action: zero.”

This illegal shutdown was finally carried out in the summer of 2014, causing major problems for the 300 parents and the agency. Internally, at Toeslagen, it quickly became clear that the closure was made on the basis of “minor imperfections” and that parents and the agency were not to be blamed. In a confidential email from September 2015: “Legality has been proved/demonstrated on paper”. Nevertheless, these parents continued to litigate for years - until the summer of 2019.

State attorney did not tell the truth
In a civil procedure by the childminding agency, the State Attorney denied last year on behalf of Secretary of State Snel that it was the explicit objective of the tax authorities to destroy this office in Eindhoven. The documents now show that the State Attorney did not tell the truth. From an email dated September 17, 2014, about this agency: “Line: we'll stop paying the supplement. The starting point must be to address the facilitators. How do we ensure that they are removed from the market?”

This approach by the alleged fraud agency is done over the backs of parents. To be on the safe side, amounts for 2013 are therefore also being recovered from parents. The tax authorities then — in November 2014 — already assume that the childminding agency will break down “as a result of the CAF action”: “But we still want to let them say goodbye to us unnoticed and collect €€€ from them.” Secretary of State Snel does not want to release the documents showing how the tax authorities cheated with 'evidence' at the start of this case in 2013, despite repeated requests from the House.

Gwendolyne
Also read:
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Incompletely informed
It also appears that Secretary of State Snel has been incorrectly or incompletely informed several times by his officials. He received incomplete information about processing a second nationality. And: after he had personally ordered to find out how it was possible that the tax authorities even withheld documents in court cases, not everything came out. The current Director of Allowances is responsible for this, and was called on internally.

What is striking is that her predecessor, Gerard Blankestijn, did have those documents, and already corresponded with the National Ombudsman at the end of 2016. As director of Allowances, Blankestijn was also closely involved in the fraud hunt. He was internally advised as early as 2017 to 'learn' from the 'improper' performance. Blankestijn is currently director of SMEs at the tax authorities; other key players such as Peter Veld and Hans Blokpoel previously had to step down due to other affairs.

Victims of the benefits affair will seek a story from the tax authorities
03:17
Whistleblower investigation
It is painful for Secretary of State Snel that official notes make it clear that he personally knew beforehand that an investigation would be launched into the whistleblower, the official who ensured that some exculpatory documents still ended up with litigating parents. On September 19 last year, his officials reported in a note to Snel: “An investigation is underway how this internal document came out.” The whistleblower was then deactivated with the intention of firing him. This was only reversed after revelations from RTL News and Trouw, and the House forced the Secretary of State to repay the whistleblower.

Official notes also show that Snel knew earlier that not only was things completely wrong in the Eindhoven case, but that parents were the victims in more cases. In June this year, he literally told the House that he had “no signs” that there were more cases. But in September 2018, he was already internally alerted to another case involving the same thing and officials warned him against “setting a precedent” if he were to give in. In May this year, at his own request, Snel even received a note about another CAF case (CAF16), explaining the unlawful and “usual method”.

Secretary of State
Also read:
Secretary of State Snel: 'I can never make up for the suffering'
Jurisdiction for “solution”
On 3 May this year, Snel was also reminded by officials in a note of his legal authority to come up with a solution for affected parents himself. Normally, this does not happen when judges have spoken, but: “You have the option to make an exception to this policy.” Snel did not do that at the time, but chose to set up a committee first.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a motion by MPs Pieter Omtzigt (CDA), Helma Lodders (VVD) and Renske Leijten (SP). He asks Secretary of State Snel to indicate in an exact timeline who was responsible for the unlawful actions by tax authorities. Both Snel and the Donner Commission have not wanted to do that so far; they insist on “institutional bias” in the service.

Fine or fine: mother Jolanda in deep debt by the tax authorities
02:41
“Disheartening” and “incredible”
Omtzigt speaks of a 'disconcerting' image that emerges from the declassified documents. He wants Snel to send the facts to the House within a week. According to him, the Secretary of State should no longer hide behind 'institutional' errors: “He will have to check for himself who deliberately broke which laws.” SP MP Renske Leijten calls the new information “really incredible” and says: “We still don't know everything, and information is still being refused. The Secretary of State could have arranged it himself a long time ago. And what does he do for all the other victims?”

On Friday, Snel announced compensation for the first group of 300 affected parents, following Donner's report. Thousands more parents are expected to be victims.

'License to disturb' motto swept away
The documents now made public also show that it had been clear internally for almost three years in what terms the CAF team spoke about involved parents and agencies. The motto “license to disturb” from the CAF team's weekly reports was deliberately removed from another procedure under the Public Administration Act in early 2017 — without it being clear that it had been lacquered. This manipulation with information was carried out under the responsibility of another senior official, a lawyer who is part of the Management Team of the Tax Administration.

The existence of the CAF team's weekly meticulous reports has so far been withheld in WOB procedures and before the House of Representatives. Snel always claimed that the fraud team did not have information in order.

Source: RTL News/Pieter Klein
More about
Menno Snel
Tax authorities
Tax Administration Allowance Affair

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