The CDA has opened up about the donations made to the party’s campaign treasury this year. The reason is the criticism that the resigned MP Omtzigt expressed in his leaked note. He wrote in it that just before the elections, almost a million euros was transferred to the party by three people who would have an interest in changing the CDA plans.
In a statement which the CDA released tonight, states that more than a million euros has come in from one person: millionaire Hans van der Wind. He did this through his companies Tetu and Movet Beheer.
According to the CDA, Van der Wind has been a regular donor of the party for fifteen years. He also chairs the party’s fundraising committee and was part of the campaign team.
‘Nothing mysterious’
“Donors have in no way been able to influence the party’s substantive course,” the statement said. “That is an aroused suggestion that is not on the agenda and something that the CDA is far from rejecting. We also deeply regret that this image has been wrongly evoked, certainly also for the donors themselves.”
Van der Wind himself has also issued a statement. In it he says that he has been donating to the CDA since 2006 and that these amounts are registered with the Ministry of the Interior. “There’s nothing mysterious about that. I do that mainly because the ideas appeal to me.”
school books
Van der Wind earned his fortune with Van Dijk Education, the largest distributor of school books in the Netherlands. It is remarkable that, as chairman of the fund-raising committee, he sounded the alarm with the board in November last year, because things did not go well with the donations after Hugo de Jonge was elected party leader.
He ultimately gave large sums to the campaign himself, but that was only when Wopke Hoekstra had taken over from De Jonge.
news hour spoke briefly by telephone with Van der Wind this evening. He emphasizes that he would also have sponsored if Hugo de Jonge had remained party leader.
Tonight, the CDA published a complete overview of the large donations to the party. This shows that another 247,000 euros has also been received from the Netherlands Entrepreneurs Climate Foundation. According to the CDA, the investment company Reggeborgh and the real estate company Orbys are behind this.
Money came in on Election Day
The CDA, like all other parties that took part in the elections, already published the donations that had been received until February 24 of this year. Some of the donations from Van der Wind and the Netherlands Entrepreneurs Climate Foundation came in just before, or even on the day of the elections. That is why they were not in the overview that was sent to the Interior.
In his leaked memo, Omtzigt already pointed out that the donations had not been notified to the ministry. The CDA board says that later donations do not have to be submitted to the Interior until July 1, and in part even on July 1 next year.
Because of the suggestions that have been made, the board has decided to make everything public now, the statement says. “This is to be completely transparent about the donations.”
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