The owner of Financial Care Consultants Noord-Nederland in Diever may have committed extensive fraud with the money of people whose financial affairs he had to arrange as administrator. The president of the Northern Netherlands court has reported forgery and embezzlement.
A preliminary investigation shows that almost 200,000 euros was transferred from clients’ bank accounts to his bank accounts. This is stated in a recent judgment by the subdistrict court. Owner Dennis Hulleman of Financial Care Consultants North Netherlands (FZNN) said on Thursday that he did not want to comment.
As a result of the investigation, the Drenthe administrator’s office was dismissed from all 118 cases that fall under the supervision of the Northern Netherlands court. This concerns cases in which the office was appointed by the judge as administrator, curator or mentor for people who are unable to manage their own financial affairs due to physical or mental problems. The judge must supervise the administrator.
Clients duped
According to the court ruling, former employees of FZNN in Diever reported last year that there were irregularities in financial and administrative operations. That would be at the expense of the people who were under government. The administrator’s office was subsequently suspended last fall. Kompas Zuidlaren has been appointed as a temporary replacement. Kompas took over the files of FZNN’s then clients and was instructed to investigate possible financial irregularities.
Following the first investigation report, the judge recently decided to dismiss the office from all cases. The investigation showed that errors were made in a large number of files and that careful financial administration was not maintained. In several cases, clients have suffered financially as a result, the judgment states.
It is concluded that significant amounts have been transferred from client bank accounts to bank accounts of the administrator’s office or the owner. The administrator was heard about this at a hearing before the subdistrict court judge. He acknowledges that mistakes were made because he was not careful enough when making payments. According to him, financial damage has indeed occurred to clients, but much less than was established in the investigation.
Administrator: no intent
In his defense to the judge, the owner of the administrator’s office states that there was no intent, but a lack of conscientiousness among staff. In addition, double bookings may have arisen due to a problem during the transition to another computer program. The administrator states that he will repair the damage he has discovered as quickly as possible.
Based on the investigation, the subdistrict court judge, according to the judgment, can only conclude that the invoice and the accounts must have been drawn up incorrectly and that there appears to have been a deliberate act. But even if there was no intent, the subdistrict court judge is of the opinion that a good administrator or curator can be expected to notice and correct such unjustified transfers from clients’ accounts to their own company accounts at an earlier stage.
Fraud investigation
According to the subdistrict court judge, the FZNN has not only seriously failed to perform its duties as administrator, mentor and curator, but has also seriously disadvantaged clients financially. The fraud investigation will conduct its own investigation following the report. The Public Prosecution Service will then decide whether the administrator will be prosecuted.