The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported in October that between 2015 and 2020 more than 1100 children have been taken away with parents who were victims of the derailed hunt for fraud with the childcare allowance. Rutte then called this ‘very serious’ and promised to return to the House of Representatives quickly.
‘No child reunited’
“We asked House-wide: come up with an investigation, help these parents. In the past three months, no independent investigation and no child has been reunited,” says MP Pieter Omtzigt. He wants to know how the prime minister views it.
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Tens of thousands of parents were wrongly identified as fraudsters in the allowance affair. They had to repay huge amounts of benefits received. Many of them got into serious trouble as a result. For example, they lost their home, their relationship broke down and some could not live as a result don’t take care of their kids anymore.
Fall of Rutte III
The benefits scandal led more than a year ago until the fall of the Rutte III cabinet. In recent years, Omtzigt played a key role in its unveiling as a CDA MP.
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Omtzigt’s critical detective work was not appreciated, especially by Rutte. In the first conversation that the VVD leader had after the elections with scouts Annemarie Jorritsma and Kajsa Ollongren, there was even talk of a ‘function elsewhere’ for the CDA member who had just been re-elected with more than 340,000 preferential votes.
That came out because Ollongren at the Binnenhof with a clearly legible note under his arm was photographed. Omtzigt has since turned its back on the CDA. He is now an independent Member of Parliament.
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