Member of Parliament Gom van Strien will resign his duties as scout with immediate effect. The senator from Geert Wilders’ party was discredited last weekend due to allegations of fraud.
“This weekend, articles appeared in the media about work in my past, in which my integrity is questioned,” Van Strien said in a statement on Monday. A day earlier, the senator said that he would stay on as a scout despite the accusations.
“In my view, both the unrest that has arisen about this and the preparation of a response to it do not relate to my current work as a scout.” Van Strien has informed PVV leader Geert Wilders and House Speaker Vera Bergkamp that he will resign from his duties as scout with immediate effect.
Due to Van Strien’s resignation as scout, the announced and scheduled discussions with the elected party leaders will not take place on Monday. It is still unclear how the formation will proceed.
Chamber chairman Bergkamp says in a response that it is “annoying to start the exploratory phase like this”. “At the same time, it is important that the exploration phase proceeds carefully,” she adds. “Given the personal circumstances of Mr Van Strien and the short timeframe of this phase, it is now important that a new scout is quickly appointed who can start work immediately.”
Van Strien is said to have committed fraud
Wrote last weekend NRC that Van Strien is associated with a fraud case involving Utrecht Holdings, a subsidiary of Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht.
Utrecht Holdings announced in March that it had filed a report due to “irregularities”. This allegedly involved two employees and one former employee. No names were mentioned.
NRC wrote that he has documents from Utrecht Holdings in his possession that show that Van Strien is the former employee involved. The PVV senator was general manager of the company between 2000 and 2009. The fraud is said to have been committed between 2006 and 2018.
Van Strien denies the accusations in a statement. According to him, the accusations are “unfounded” and he “strongly distances himself from them”. The senator says he complied with the law and was not aware of the details of the report.
Council of State wants permanent scout
In September, the House of Representatives urgently requested advice from the Council of State to prevent the exploration after the elections from ending “in chaos”. The exploration after the 2021 elections led to a major crisis of confidence in politics.
The scout duo Kajsa Ollongren (D66) and Annemarie Jorritsma (VVD) resigned because of the note “position Omtzigt, position elsewhere”. The next duo (VVD member Tamara van Ark and D66 member Wouter Koolmees) also had to leave the scene quickly. The formation took a historically long time.
In mid-October, the Council of State therefore recommended appointing a permanent scout during the formation phase. The vice-president of the Council of State seemed best suited for this. That person would be more distanced from daily politics.
When Senator Van Strien was appointed, there was criticism from various parties on Friday that he was not far enough removed from daily politics.
2023-11-27 10:15:27
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