Eighty victims of the Allowance affair file a complaint against Prime Minister Rutte

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According to lawyer Vasco Groeneveld, the prime minister would have co-decided on the steps to take since May 2019. The collection then continued for months.

Authors
- Ester Meerman
Published onFebruary 3, 2021
Reading time 1 minute

Prime Minister Rutte talks to affected parents of the Allowance Affair.

Eighty victims of the childcare allowance case filed a complaint against Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday. That's what their lawyer Vasco Groeneveld says. According to the counsel, the outgoing Prime Minister was guilty of three official crimes in this case. On 12 January, Groeneveld already filed a complaint on behalf of a group of victims against five other (former) administrators: current outgoing ministers Tamara van Ark (Medical Care, VVD) and Wopke Hoekstra (Finance, CDA) and former ministers Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs, VVD) and Wopke Hoekstra (Finance, CDA) and former ministers Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs, VVD) and former ministers Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs, VVD) and Wopke Hoekstra (Finance, CDA) and former ministers Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs, VVD) and former ministers Eric Wiebes (VVD) and Lodewijk Asscher (Social Affairs, PvdA) and former Secretary of State Menno Snel (Finance, D66). The lawyer then found it too early to include Rutte in that report as well. “After that, new, incriminating information was added,” says Groeneveld, especially from the Parliamentary debate on 19 January and the documents that became public as a result. In that debate, according to Groeneveld, the prime minister clearly made it known that he had participated in deciding on the steps to take since May 2019. The collection by the tax authorities then continued at least until November 2019.

Hunted and robbed

The people who assist Groeneveld believe that Rutte deliberately failed to implement laws. He also allowed orders to exist even though he knew that the law was being violated. “Rutte did not intervene when my clients were officially hounded and robbed,” says Groeneveld about this. According to the report, Rutte would have been aware of abuses at the Benefits Department as early as the autumn of 2018. “The violation of the rule of law by the government is unprecedented in modern Dutch history,” says Groeneveld about the Allowance Affair. The information that came to light in the January 19 debate and several new public documents has also made the previous reports against Snel and Hoekstra heavier. The suspicions against the two have been extended to include so-called intentional crimes, which involve not only guilt, but also intent.