Seven years after his arrest, the lawsuit against former alderman Peter Tielemans of the municipality of Helmond will start on Wednesday. Tielemans is suspected of embezzlement, gag (kind of extortion by an official) and corruption. He was arrested in 2015 after he had previously been discredited for declaring taxi rides from the pub to his home.
In 2019, Tielemans wrote a letter of despair to the city council of Helmond. The municipality had stopped his benefits because he refused to give access to his accounts. According to the former alderman, every effort was made to ‘completely ruin’ his life. He had financial problems, could no longer pay his lawyer and struggled with health problems. The fall of the prominent former alderman was hard. It started in 2013 when the Eindhovens Dagblad revealed that he had declared taxi rides from the pub to his home.
The alderman resigned and the municipality started an investigation into the declaration behavior of the entire municipal executive. This showed that Tielemans declared more than his colleagues, but the researchers were unable to determine whether Tielemans’ expenses were illegal. This was partly due to careless administration at the municipality of Helmond. The report did state that Tielemans had to repay 1,879 euros. According to the municipality, the alderman had not declared soberly. The rules regarding declarations have been tightened up.
character assassination
According to Tielemans, the report exonerated him and he demanded apologies and rehabilitation from the municipality. The whole course of events would have been political character assassination of parties that still had a bone to pick with him.
But in 2015 came the final blow. Peter Tielemans was arrested at his house in Stiphout. His political party, the Social Democrats Ondernemend Helmond, had filed a report because of a bank account in the name of the party, but which was unknown. Tielemans is now accused of putting 170,000 euros in his own pocket. Tielemans is also accused of gagging, or extortion by a civil servant who demands money while he knows that this money is not owed. Finally, there is also corruption on the indictment. That accusation has to do with accepting a donation.
Less Penalty
There is a chance that the judge will take into account the seven years it took to get these allegations to a court hearing. That would mean that Tielemans, if he is convicted, will receive a lesser sentence.
Actually, the alderman was supposed to be in court earlier this year, but due to an error in the planning, the case did not go through. A slow investigation, health problems at Tielemans himself and the hearing of many witnesses ensured that the case was delayed for years. The court also has 9 November on the schedule for the case against Tielemans.
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