Princess Laurentien's ministry and foundation rolling around the street again: 'Culture of intimidation'
Princess Laurentien's ministry and foundation rolling around the street again: 'Culture of intimidation'
By Niels Rigter
Last updated: 54 min ago1 hour ago in Inland
Amsterdam - The disagreement between Princess Laurentien's Equal Recovery Foundation (SGH) and the Ministry of Finance is flaring up again. While the foundation has now been given a leading role in the recovery operation of the benefits affair, the parties are taking to the streets.
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To embrace chairman Chris van Dam of the Van Dam committee, the cabinet advisor to the SGH to co-founder Laurentien.
According to SGH co-founder Gerd van Atten, the Ministry of Finance has a “culture of intimidation”. Van Atten has reported to the top boss of the ministry that he feels “extremely unsafe”. According to him, there is no adequate response to this. “After Laurentien was first reported with anonymous suspicions, it's now my turn.” He wants the 'attack' to stop before he continues talking.
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Ministry after looking back at the Laurentien issue: 'Reports, but no functional complaints'
It still looked so invisible to SGH. After almost a year of arguments with the Ministry of Finance, Secretary of State Sandra Palmen (Allowances) endorsed last Friday that the settlement of the benefits affair cannot be done without the Laurentien method. After all: the way things are going, with all kinds of different routes to cause major damage, the repair operation could take up to twenty years, as an advisory committee led by Chris van Dam had recently found. The Van Dam committee recommended that the government embrace SGH.
Laurentien's position wise
In between, Finance had its resident lawyer Nauta Dutilh investigate SGH's travel and sailing in recent months. Last year, that law firm was closely involved in setting up the collaboration with the van Laurentien Foundation. In addition, doubts were never raised about the foundation's good governance. But in the new note, Nauta states that the position of SGH founders Gerd van Atten and Laurentien van Oranje is wise. They may no longer be part of the board, but they still rule the roost, is the conclusion.
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Nauta sees “risks of strengthening interests”. According to Nauta, SGH's board and supervisory board, including former CU leader Gert-Jan Segers, are also not independent. The fact that Laurentien is a member of the Royal House gives her “a certain authority components others do not own”, which is “aggravated” for her control.
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Princess Laurentien is said to have been “physically intimidated” by an official.
“We do not consider the statements of the founders within the board and the supervisory board compatible with the requirement of ethical business,” the conclusion was. The lawyers conclude that “SGH's board in its current state does not meet the legal requirements that apply under the law”. That is only in order when SGH “completely deletes” the founders, the researchers believe.
Personal attack
Van Atten sees the investigation and consequences as a personal attack. “We are working with Finance to solve the biggest scandal in Dutch politics in recent decades. Ordering your home attorney to secretly investigate your cooperation partner is not a way to work together, right?”
“'Princess was thrown in front of the bus'”
The way in which the foundation is run has never been an issue in the collaboration with Finance, indirect Van Atten. “Nauta Dutilh himself was involved in drafting the cooperation agreement. It knows how our organization intersects. When we agreed with the ministry in July to provide equal assistance to 20,000 parents, our governance was exactly the same. It wasn't a problem back then.”
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According to him, the investigation that was conducted without SGH's knowledge or adversation is an attempt to discredit him. “That happens every time we face big decisions.”
Laurentien 'physically intimidated'
Van Atten points to an incident that he witnessed in February last year. In doing so, Laurentien would be “physically intimidated” by a senior official. “The official stood with her face close to her and shouted in her face that she hated her.” Laurentien subsequently asked for advice from Mariëtte Hamer, government commissioner for unwanted behavior, so affirmatively involved. Laurentien then reported the incident by the Director General.
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The Ministry of Finance in The Hague.
Hamer says she cannot make any announcements about it 'in the context of the blindness of her role'. Laurentien had already suggested in an interview with De Telegraaf that it was not she, but rather officials, who had allowed them against her borders. She didn't want to tell me what happened. Now Van Atten does. “I can't do anything else. This has to stop.”
Transgressive behavior Laurentien
Van Atten also points to the anonymous reports from officials about Laurentien's transgressive behavior, which later turned out to be found nothing. The anonymous reports came out after SGH and Finance signed an agreement to expand the pilot into further cooperation. “Just when we thought we were there, Laurentien was thrown in front of the bus. Finance to remove surprising doubts about Laurentien's behavior. Earlier, around the evaluation of our pilot, an official wearing a wig came to TV to say what was wrong.”
See also:
Princess Laurentien quits as chairman of the foundation for allowance parents
The Ministry of Finance is indirect that SGH is an “important partner in the recovery operation” and that it “wants to continue to fully focus” on the foundation's “listening method”. “Precisely because the SGH plays such an important and valuable role in dealing with additional claims, it is important that the board meets the legal requirements,” says a functional one from Secretary of State Palmen. “This is regardless of the government's great appreciation for the efforts of everyone involved in the SGH.”
On Thursday, the House of Representatives will debate the recovery operation of the benefits affair.
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