A fruit trader (66) from Assen who was convicted of tax fraud in mid-September has lost his place at the market in Assen. The municipality of Assen withdrew the permit after it became aware of the fraudulent conduct. The trader does not agree with this and went to court.
At the beginning of last month, the municipality of Assen decided to withdraw the permit based on the advice of the National Bureau Bibob. Bibob stands for the Promotion of Integrity Assessments by Public Administration Act. The law must prevent rogue companies and protect honest entrepreneurs. That is what this is about, according to the municipality.
The trader did not have his administration in order and he also paid several employees undeclared. This became apparent in August during a criminal hearing at the court in Zwolle. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded a prison sentence of three months against the trader in the criminal case. Too little, the judge thought, and imposed a prison sentence of six months. The entrepreneur had previously been convicted of this and was therefore unruly.
“The mayor was approached several times by market vendors about unfair competition that they experienced,” said the lawyer for the municipality of Assen. According to him, this decision did not come out of the blue. As early as July, the municipality indicated that it wanted to revoke the permit and discussions about this were ongoing, according to the counselor.
The locations in Assen are of great importance to the fruit trader. According to him, no less than seventy percent of his income is based on it. According to a spokeswoman for the municipality of Assen, the objection procedure is still ongoing and it will take at least ten weeks before a decision is made. The fruit trader hopes to still be able to sell fruit on the market in Assen during this procedure. The municipality finds this irresponsible.
The municipality believes that the interests of the fruit trader carry less weight than, among other things, the business climate on the market in Assen. “In that case I am heading for bankruptcy,” the fruit trader predicted. The judge sees that a lot is at stake and promises to make a decision by November 13 at the latest.