Minister De Jonge to Parliament: ‘Apologies for insufficient information’

Minister Helder immediately comes under fire from the opposition parties. Yesterday she sent a letter to the House with mail and app traffic from Minister De Jonge about the deal. That happened at De Jonge’s request, explains Helder.

GroenLinks, PvdA, SP and Denk find it unacceptable that this information comes to the House if a minister wants to defend himself, but not if the House asks for it. The House previously asked for a factual statement on the matter, but Helder refused twice. She said she could not give that, because the facts will only be clear when the accounting firm Deloitte has completed its investigation.

“I value a complete picture,” says Helder. The fact that apps and e-mails were shared happened “under pressure of the circumstances”. But according to the minister, those emails and apps are different from the requested factual account.

MPs of the opposition think that is a word game. PvdA member Kuiken observes that the turning and hiding by the cabinet continues. “That gets to the heart of this debate, the question of whether we can still trust this cabinet.”

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