The Hague former aldermen Richard de Mos and Rachid Guernaoui will probably be told today whether the Public Prosecution Service (OM) thinks they have been bribed. If so, the pair will also hear what punishment the prosecutors think is appropriate.
The public prosecutor will start the requisitorial on Tuesday. The reading will take all afternoon and will probably continue on Wednesday. Five entrepreneurs and a former city council member will also hear their sentence. All suspects have stated that they are innocent.
In 2018, De Mos and Guernaoui joined the coalition that governed The Hague on behalf of the party Hart voor Den Haag/Groep de Mos. A year later, detectives raided their offices in the town hall and their homes. They would have helped friendly entrepreneurs in exchange for donations to the party.
For example, De Mos is said to have tipped off the Akyol brothers that a permit was becoming available, allowing them to keep their conference center open at night as well. When De Mos ensured that the parking fees around the conference center were reduced, one of the brothers reacted happily. De Mos replied: “Just think of me.”
Partner of much-discussed brothers came into council after donations
Another suspect is Nino Davituliani, the partner of one of the brothers. Their donations would have given her a high spot on De Mos’s list of candidates, which brought her to the council of The Hague.
When she was in doubt whether she should vote on the night permits, her partner reportedly told her: “We planted you in, we can take you out again. You know that 30 grand was paid by us, that that seat of us.”
Davituliani is also said to have tipped off a council member of the neighboring municipality of Rijswijk about possible problems at a competing conference centre.
Because of the suspicions, Hart voor Den Haag/Groep de Mos has been expelled from the coalition in The Hague. In last year’s municipal elections, the local party received the most votes in The Hague, but too many other parties did not want to do business with De Mos.
