It is a tough fight that has been going on for four years now. “It took a lot of pain and effort.” But Gabriel is determined not to give up. Finally, his persistence is now starting to pay off and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Confirmation of his innocence
Recently, that one email Gabriel has been waiting for so long finally arrived. The police confirm that he has been wrongfully in their systems for years. And what rarely happens: the police issues a so-called ‘dismissal 01’, confirmation that he has been wrongly identified as a suspect.
The problems start four years ago. Gabriel runs an agency in Enschede that provides care to about ten people in need of assistance. In November 2021, the municipality suddenly terminated the contract due to suspicions of fraud. Where do those suspicions come from? Gabriel can only guess. But he has lost the contract, worth 400,000 euros per year.
Police post days in front of his house
It doesn’t stop there. Things go from bad to worse. Gabriel soon gets other government agencies behind him. For example, the UWV is scrutinizing him because the benefits agency suspects fraud with the sickness benefit of the mother of his children. No means is shunned to prove this, as is evident from the observation reports that Gabriel is shown after much insistence.
These reports show how detectives stationed themselves in front of Gabriel’s home for days and recorded everything that happened in detail: from the time his children went to school to the color of the dress they wore. And about his wife they note that she ‘walks with a normal brisk gait’ and ‘did not show any abnormal walking behaviour’. In short: that benefit will be unjustified.
The problems keep piling up. The intensive supervision department of the Tax Authorities soon also scrutinized Gabriel. Routine investigation, he is told. But it doesn’t feel that way. And the bank no longer wants to do business with him because there are suspicions of money laundering. “I have had moments when I no longer had any interest in life,” he says.
Why he?
Gabriel doesn’t understand how it got to this point. When he tries to find out exactly what happened, he is sent from pillar to post. The Tax Authorities refer to the police, who allegedly have suspicions against him. And the police refer back to the Tax Authorities. No one can answer the question: why? And why him?
“I’m devastated, it’s really tough,” Gabriel told RTL News a year and a half ago. But he doesn’t intend to rest until the bottom stone is up. During his investigation, he discovers that tens of thousands of pages of files have been created about him at the UWV, the Tax Authorities and the municipality of Enschede.
Mistaken identity
The documents show that Gabriel has been registered in the Tax Authorities’ systems for years as a suspect in connection with the possession of hard drugs. This note was probably the source of all the misery. But how this note came about after his name is a mystery.
Hard drugs? Gabriel doesn’t know what he’s hearing. He knows for sure: that can’t be him. Many telephone calls, emails and requests for information later, it becomes clear that there is indeed a note in his file about hard drugs. But the documents also show that this must be a case of mistaken identity.
Gabriel doesn’t leave it at that. He won’t rest until he has clarity, he promises himself. A years-long crusade follows to uncover the truth. But how did this registration end up in his file? And with which authorities it was subsequently shared. No one can or wants to answer these questions.
Unjustly suspected
It produces meters of files of all correspondence with government agencies. He keeps running into a wall of lack of cooperation. “He has been very persistent,” says his lawyer Max Hazekamp. “Others had long since given up.”
Everywhere possible, Gabriel sounds the alarm. Without result. If RTL News pays attention to his story in September 2022, the Ministry of Finance will contact him. And MPs ask questions about the issue. It doesn’t help much.
It was only recently that things finally came to light. The police appear to have wrongly linked him to a drug offense. Exactly how this happened remains unclear, but it appears to be a case of mistaken identity. This information has been shared with numerous other government agencies.
Malki waits for Rutte and is allowed to go to the Tower
The police acknowledge the mistake and promise to correct it. But that doesn’t mean Gabriel is done yet. He still has problems with the Tax Authorities and the UWV. Despite repeated requests, the tax authorities do not want to remove the incorrect note from their systems.
At his wits’ end, Gabriel takes the plunge. When Rutte has to appear for questioning at the parliamentary inquiry committee on Fraud Policy, Malki will wait for him afterwards. Armed with a thick stack of documents, he explains to the Prime Minister what is going on. With the result: he is allowed to visit the tower to talk about his case.
Finally results
According to Gabriel, Rutte sees that something has gone seriously wrong. He promises him to dedicate himself to his cause. Shortly afterwards, Gabriel indeed receives a call from one of the officials of the Ministry of General Affairs who will help him further.
Finally things seem to be moving. A telephone call from the relevant official to the Tax Authorities to look at the matter again has an effect. At the beginning of November, a legal employee from the Tax Authorities sent an email offering to remove the incorrect data from the systems.
The police and the Tax Authorities have now corrected the error. But that’s about it. “No apologies, very cold,” says Gabriel. It stings him. “Apparently sorry isn’t in their vocabulary.”
‘Amount with many zeros’
Moreover, all injustices are far from being corrected. There are still several appeals pending, including against the UWV. Gabriel has no intention of giving up. Years of his life have already been destroyed and he wants to continue his fight until his name is completely cleared.
Gabriel’s lawyer is now preparing a claim for damages. “It will be an amount with many zeros,” he says. But Gabriel’s life is destroyed. No amount of money can undo this suffering.
2024-03-31 12:03:44
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