The two top officials of the Tax and Customs Administration and the Ministry of Finance knew about a secret memo about the allowance affair, but denied this during their interrogation under oath before the Parliamentary Interrogation Committee Child Care Allowance (POK).
From a reconstruction of RTL News on Loyalty turns out that the memo was already discussed on June 4, 2019 during crisis talks at the ministry, where both officials were present. This memo, dating from 2017, already concluded that the discontinuation of benefits was unlawful and that a group of 300 parents should be compensated.
The memo was drawn up by the then most senior lawyer in the Benefits Department, but compensation for victims of the parents was not forthcoming; the memo disappeared in a drawer. The piece came to light by chance in October 2020, after questions from CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt.
no reminder
The former boss of the tax authorities, Jaap Uijlenbroek, claimed in his interrogation before the interrogation committee that he knew the memo “in no way”, and that he only became aware of the contents through publicity in the autumn of 2020. The then highest official of the Ministry of Finance Manon Leijten told the interrogation committee that she could not remember reading the memo.
Uijlenbroek informs RTL Nieuws and Trouw that he answered during his interrogation “from my memories as I have them”. “I stand by the statement made at the hearing.” Former Secretary-General Leijten does not answer questions, but refers to the Ministry of Finance.
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