Benefits affair: top officials gave way to illegal fraud hunting

Benefits affair: top officials gave way to illegal fraud hunting

September 23, 2019 01:01 Updated October 30, 2019 09:25 Image © ANPA series of senior officials from the Tax Administration, Surcharges and Fiod were directly responsible for the derailed fraud hunt in 2014. Top management gave way to a special fraud team, which then - against the law - stopped childcare benefits for hundreds of people. This happened without a thorough investigation. As a result, hundreds of parents ran into major financial problems for years. This is evident from research by Trouw and RTL News. Acting illegally was not an industrial accident among a few employees. The reconstruction shows that the policy was approved at a high official level by the Fraud Management Team. Duped parentsThat team included all the key officials. This includes the then general director of the tax authorities and the director of surcharges. The top official boss, the then Director General, would also be aware of this. They gave the so-called 'Combiteam Approach Facilitators' (CAF) plenty of way. This CAF team is also known as the “Cowboy Team” because it deliberately pushed and exceeded the limits of the law. The management layers underneath were also closely involved. In implementing and legally mercilessly dealing with affected parents.Officials? It is unclear exactly when the top officials realized that they were acting illegally. However, the policy of unlawful termination was amended in 2016. Some top officials have already left, but many still hold high positions in the tax authorities/Allowances. According to insiders, they are afraid that they will be dealt with in a disciplinary manner in the aftermath of the benefits affair.Huge jobState Secretary Menno Snel (Finance) did not even rule out that these top officials committed offences or offences on Friday evening in answers to Parliamentary questions from CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt. Snel: “The analysis of all documents and information is an enormous task, which is necessary for a complete and accurate picture, so that judgment can also be made. Because this work has not been completed yet, I am unable to answer your question at this time.” He previously publicly admitted that the derailed fraud approach was a policy that was “deeply written”. No investigation. The Secretary of State also wants to wait for an investigation by the State Audit Service (ADR) into all 170 CAF cases. However, the ADR has specifically stated that it does not want to investigate people, as the House had previously explicitly requested. The names and roles of the top officials came up in response to a request under the Public Administration Act (wob). This request from Trouw and RTL News was submitted on July 26. All documents are now on the table. Although the role of top officials is clear thanks to the paper trail, Snel does not want to inform the House about this for now. “Because this requires a lot of effort, it will probably take some time before I can provide the documents to your House.” It is not clear whether Snel's predecessor, the current minister Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs), was informed by the official top about acting illegally at the time.Tunnel Vision The problem for Snel is that, despite the change in policy in 2016, the tax authorities simply continued to litigate against duped parents who were unfairly dealt with in the years before. This also happened after a highly critical report by the National Ombudsman, in 2017, on the CAF-11 case, around a childcare agency in Eindhoven. Court proceedings against duped parents also continued all this time, until a devastating ruling by the Council of State, in May this year. In June, the Secretary of State admitted that his officials and he were suffering from “Tunnel Vision”. excusessnel apologized several times to affected parents and to the House of Representatives for the benefits affair. He acknowledged that the stoppages were unlawful, and that he wants compensation for a group of 300 parents in the CAF 11 case. Answers to questions from SP MP Renske Leijten show that not only were the stops illegal, but that this also happened on the basis of inadequate research.