Former mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam had three subsidies for combating radicalization in 2018, while he knew that the receiving party was suspected of fraud. The Rotterdam city council suggested earlier that the subsidies could not be stopped because the Public Prosecution Service feared disruption of the criminal investigation. However, confidential correspondence shows that the OM had no objection to stopping the subsidies at all. In fact, it even resulted in a text proposal with which the municipality could terminate the money flow.
This concerns e-mail traffic between the then director of Safety of the municipality of Rotterdam, André Vervooren and the then Rotterdam chief officer of Justice Marc van Nimwegen, where NRC has laid the hand.
Parties in the city council feel misleaded and demand clarification from mayor Carola Schouten, who succeeded Aboutaleb last year.
Cheese factory
Two months ago it was announced that after a seven -year fraud investigation, the Public Prosecution Service concluded an agreement with the suspects three days before the hearing. Three Moroccan Dutch people from Rotterdam politics and welfare work accepted a criminal decision and paid fines and work sentences for darkening money from their foundations. They were subsidized to combat radicalization and to promote integration. Due to this judicial settlement, the suspects were saved a public lawsuit. NRC Last month revealed that the suspects invested the foundation money in a cheese factory in Morocco, among other things. A radicalization officer, also right hand of Aboutaleb, granted a private loan of around 10,000 euros for this cheese factory.
In a debate with the city council on January 23, Mayor Schouten announced an “external investigation” to the subsidy fraud, because the municipality of the OM “did not get the names” of the fraudulent foundations. She called this attitude of the OM “unsatisfactory.”
Rotterdam foundations
Although the municipality would not formally know which subsidies was fraud, it received information about the suspects in the fraud investigation seven years ago. These are three drivers of Rotterdam foundations that organize activities for Moroccan Dutch: Attanmia, Al Jisr and Noord Plus. At that time, Attanmia is an important partner for the municipality: it receives three subsidies at the same time, in particular to teach Moroccan-Dutch parents how to protect their children from radicalization.
How is it possible that you maintain the subsidy to a fraudulent foundation? And why did we hear something else as a council?
In March 2018, the OM will inform the municipality about the investigation, so that “BGM [burgemeester Aboutaleb] Measures “can take” with regard to the subsidies granted by the municipality, “the OM writes in an e-mail. But to terminate subsidies, a reason must be given. That is why the Municipal Director of Security asks the Public Prosecution Service how transparent the municipality can be about the existence of the investigation. Chief officer Marc van Nimwegen emails back that the municipality can simply tell Attanmia that they are the subject of a fraud investigation – the suspect drivers already know about it. Van Nimwegen even provides an example text that the municipality could send about the termination of the subsidy.
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Cheese factory in Morocco with Rotterdam subsidy
Allow subsidies to go through
However, Aboutaleb decides to let the subsidies for Attanmia go through for another year, and to have them checked extra sharply. Why he did that, he wants to NRC not explain. “All questions are for my office successor,” says Aboutaleb when asked per WhatsApp. Then he refuses to answer questions. His then then then second safety head does not want to say anything about it.
Current mayor Carola Schouten previously suggested that the municipality had to let the subsidies go through the OM. “In coordination with the Public Prosecution Service, it was decided to have the subsidies run through. This is to prevent the municipality from disrupting the criminal investigation unintentionally, “wrote Schouten in a council letter last January 15. She repeated this answer again on January 22 in answers to questions from Leefbaar Rotterdam.
“We are always very secure that the subsidies could not be stopped because this would harm the investigation,” says Simon Ceulemans, chairman of Leefbaar, the largest coalition party in Rotterdam. “But if the OM did not think this was necessary at all, that is a serious matter. That would mean that Aboutaleb continued to grant an unnecessary subsidy to an organization that is suspected of fraud. And that the city council was misled about this. ”
Councilor Ingrid van Wifferen (D66) has “many questions,” she says. “Because this seems contrary to what we were told before.” Dieke van Groningen (VVD) also wants clarification from Schouten. “How is it possible that you maintain the subsidy to a fraudulent foundation? And why did we hear something else as a council? I don’t want the mayor to rest before all the information is on the table. “
When asked, Mayor Schouten announced through her spokesperson that she has been ‘not complete enough’ in her earlier announcements about having the subsidies go through. “This answer should have been sharper.” She will therefore send the council a new letter with an explanation.