Money laundering, serious assault, threats, drug trafficking and even a sexual offense. A large proportion of the self-employed in the care sector investigated by the Regional Information and Expertise Center (RIEC) East Netherlands have previously been convicted of crimes. Some even have a whole laundry list of offenses to their name. The researchers found a total of 192 convictions in 28 of the 87 self-employed persons studied.
‘Ideal cover’
In the report, which will be published today, the researchers call self-employment an ‘ideal cover’ for criminals. ‘Because they say they earn a lot of money with this and it can be an alternative explanation for having assets’. For example, several self-employed people without employees were stopped with thousands of euros in cash in their pocket or driving cars from the more expensive segment. Six self-employed persons come forward in investigations into suspicious transactions.
In many cases studied, work as a self-employed person in healthcare was used as an argument. The working hours and locations also make care interesting as a cover, the researchers write. ‘This gives them an alternative explanation for why they are present at a certain time (e.g. at night) or location (far from their home address).’
When a criminal with a criminal record full of burglaries uses his work in healthcare as an excuse for being present in a neighborhood at an unusual time, the police will have to prove that this is not the case. That is not easy, because these people are just on paper as healthcare workers. And they often have different working hours.
Mayor René Verhulst van Ede is shocked by the results, but at the same time not surprised that the work as a self-employed person in healthcare is used as an explanation for striking behaviour. His municipality came across examples like this more often and therefore asked RIEC East Netherlands to investigate the phenomenon in more detail.
Emergency jerry can
In less than an hour, on September 14, 2021, no less than 22 cars burned down in the Veldhuizen district in Ede. DNA traces of a 26-year-old Veenendaler were found on a jerry can. He recently denied involvement in the fires before the judge. According to the suspect, he regularly lent jerry cans with petrol, which he said he often had with him for emergencies in view of his job as a self-employed person in healthcare.
Mayor Verhulst van Ede believes nothing of it. “You can just fill up with your debit card, can’t you? This is just a bullshit story.” Whether the judge considers the statement logical will become clear next week. Then a verdict is made.
‘Tip of iceberg’
Verhulst thinks the results of the study are the tip of the iceberg. “This is not only happening in East Netherlands, but on a large scale throughout the Netherlands. If money can be earned easily somewhere, before you know it you have a network of criminals who help each other. For example, with false IDs or diplomas.”
Earlier, RTL News showed that fraud with false diplomas and statements about behavior in healthcare is increasing and that the monitoring of this is limited. The researchers at the RIEC endorse this. According to them, it is unlikely that all the self-employed persons surveyed are in possession of a valid statement of conduct.
The researchers state that 59 of the self-employed persons surveyed come from a criminal network. They often started working in healthcare through possibly rogue employment agencies or acquaintances.
Still active
According to mayor Verhulst van Ede, there is a good chance that many of the people investigated are still active in healthcare. He doesn’t like that. In addition to more control of false papers, Verhulst wants it to be possible to exchange data about convicted or suspected persons as soon as possible. That is not allowed now.
“It cannot be the case that criminals who have committed property crimes, violent crimes or drug crimes and do not even provide care can just continue to do so, but at another institution or in another region.”
About the investigation
RIEC East Netherlands investigated 87 self-employed persons in the healthcare sector. They came forward in previously reported signals of healthcare fraud in the eastern Netherlands. The self-employed persons who are part of the so-called phenomenon analysis therefore do not provide a representative picture of all the more than 168,000 self-employed persons who are active in the healthcare sector in the Netherlands.
‘This means that no statements can be made about the total number of self-employed persons in the care sector who have a criminal background and are criminally active in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, there are reasons to believe that this is a national problem,’ the researchers write.
2023-05-09 13:57:05
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