Forensic accountants from Deloitte have been investigating the mouth mask deal with Sywert van Lienden since last summer. Even after Thursday’s heated debate, a number of crucial questions await answers.
The first: why was Van Lienden ordered to supply no fewer than 40 million mouth caps on April 22, 2020, while the buyers of the National Consortium Aids (LCH) tried shortly before to “minimize” the upcoming order to 1 to 2 million mouth caps? They thought no more was necessary.
Van Lienden complained about this to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) on 17 April, according to the Wob documents published by the cabinet: “I still do not understand why we are moving from a maximum to a minimum scenario.” A few days later, he still got his dream deal worth 100 million euros.
It was VWS top official Mark Frequin who gave verbal agreement; in his own words, it was a transaction that he concluded “pretty dry.” Did Frequin decide on his own that Van Lienden would receive a much larger assignment than the LCH was aiming for? Or was there contact with the political top of his ministry about this? It is known that ministers Hugo de Jonge and Martin van Rijn were involved in the possible transaction in an earlier phase – but what about the final phase?
The terms and conditions of the transaction are also fodder for the Deloitte investigation. These were generous for Van Lienden and his two business partners. The ministry transferred the necessary EUR 100.8 million in full in advance, and also took care of the costs for transport, distribution and storage. With many other suppliers, VWS paid a maximum of half in advance. Van Lienden had already roped Rabobank to finance his deal. Why did the ministry pay for the entire order in advance?
As a result, Van Lienden and partners hardly ran any entrepreneurial risk. Still, the ministry agreed with a risk margin of 20 percent – an important explanation for the millions of profit that Van Lienden was left with. Why did VWS allow them to use such a margin?
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Another crucial question: to what extent did the top of the ministry know that Van Lienden and his partners would become multimillionaires with their mask deal? Was it known that the transaction went through a commercial company, instead of through the non-profit foundation Hulptroepen Alliantie?
The explanations on this differ. Responsible Minister Van Rijn initially said that he had not known anything about Van Lienden’s business interests. His successor Tamara van Ark later suggested that the ministry knew that the deal was through a private limited company, but that the “type of construct” made no difference to VWS. Top official Frequin also stated that he had known about the BV, while LCH top man Rob van der Kolk said he hadn’t.
It is clear that Van Lienden provided misleading information about this. On his presentations to VWS, the name of his non-profit foundation Hulptroepen Alliantie was written in large letters, while behind the scenes the commercial Relief Goods Alliance bv had already been established. On April 29, 2020, he still texted Hugo de Jonge that the deal was “non-profit” – a claim that he also frequently made heard in the media.
It is up to the Deloitte investigators to determine who was telling the truth here. The report of the forensic accountants should be published before the summer recess.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 8, 2022