Huge corruption case involving attacks: official Jim B. searched illegally for information 'thousands of times'

In the largest corruption case involving underworld violence, official Jim B. (47) looked up numerous addresses for criminals where attacks later took place. The Public Prosecutor's Office suspects that. In total, the employee of the municipality of Amsterdam may have searched the systems illegally thousands of times. Explosions or shelling took place at dozens of addresses.

Chiel Timmermans, Yelle Tieleman 20-08-25, 12:54

A car mechanic was shot at an address in The Hague that was visited by the official, during an introductory hearing on Wednesday. Jim B. - who was not present himself - is also explicitly linked to the underworld conflict surrounding a stolen shipment of 1,400 kilos of cocaine. That theft led to a wave of attacks for which he would have looked up various addresses.

Exactly how many addresses are involved is still being investigated. So far, B. is linked to eight attacks. He is being prosecuted not only for bribery, but also for complicity in the attacks. According to the judiciary, he must have known that the information he provided was used to commit serious crimes.

Information brokers

Those attacks took place throughout the Netherlands. As an administrative employee of the collection department of the municipality of Amsterdam, B. had access to several systems including the Personal Records Database (BRP). On request, according to the Public Prosecution Service, he made “possibly thousands of illegal queries” in those systems. That does not mean that it was intended to commit violence.

The arrest of Jim B. hit the debt collection department like a bomb. “No one expected this,” the prosecutor said on Wednesday. B. was seen as a committed and loyal employee. Colleagues were teary-eyed because they couldn't believe it. “He was a two-faced official,” the officer said.

In July, the police arrested two men who are seen as so-called information brokers. Presumably, B. sold them the personal data that was subsequently passed on to criminals. One of the information brokers claimed that he had to pay 50 euro per survey.

“Sit behind my money”

The Public Prosecutor seriously questions this: “Objectively speaking, that's very little for such valuable information,” says the officer. She points to messages from the official to the information broker:

“But bro, when do we check out now. Because it's about quite a lot now. (...) I just have to provide every info, and then I have to sit behind my money. I'm going to stop doing this this way. '

A search also found a note that seems to indicate that B. made an awful lot of money with the surveys. Behind the text “received so far” is an amount of €111,626.95. And above that, “delivered €1222,025.84”. In other words, 1.2 million euros.

The same note also states “number of subjects: 2625”. This could indicate the number of people about whom Jim B. has looked up data. According to the suspect, the notes have to do with something completely different. Exactly what that is is is not clear.

In the interrogations, the suspect stated that he was under pressure. But according to the Public Prosecution Service, there is no evidence that there was a threat to him or his family. “Quite the opposite, in fact. The language used between the suspect and his customers is loose and they communicate carelessly about the people and addresses to be interviewed. Like it was the most normal thing in the world.”

Attempted liquidation

The most prominent attack is the one on a car mechanic in The Hague. On January 28, 2025, a shooter walks into Garage Zuiderpark in the Driebergenstraat in The Hague and points his gun at the head of a car mechanic and then shoot him in the leg while filming, among other things.

There is also a link with the underworld conflict that arose after 1400 kilos of cocaine were ripped within the criminal environment last summer. Jim B. is said to have searched, among other things, the addresses of the employee of a drinks store where part of the stolen cocaine was stored. Explosions and a shelling occurred near his home and that of family members.

For these attacks, B. is currently not being prosecuted for these attacks. In total, his summons contain eight attacks. Three attacks took place in one week at an apartment in the Berkelstraat in Rotterdam. Salient: an article by the AD hereof was open on his phone at the time he was arrested on May 12.