A sports bag with women’s lingerie, boxer shorts and high heels. A consultation room with erotic aids, such as a rope and lubricant. And a ‘sexual agreement’ with a couple, in which sexual services are exchanged for payment. A selection of the items and documents found at the office of a Drenthe notary.
The notary in question has offices in Borger, Beilen, Emmen and Oosterhesselen. Two other notaries from this office filed a complaint with the notary chamber, the Chamber for Notaries, about the behavior of their Drenthe colleague. Never before has this House considered the sexual behavior of a notary.
According to prosecutors, the notary is not functioning and is struggling with a sex addiction. According to the complainants, this makes the man, who has worked in the trade for almost forty years, “can be blackmailed” and “vulnerable to extortion”. And they wonder: to what extent does his behavior damage the honor and prestige of the notary office?
Employees of the notary’s office first raised the alarm with one of the complainants in March last year. A registered clerk at the branch where the Drenthe notary is in charge found that her employer’s private life hindered his notary work. For example, she saw sex messages on the office computer, bookings at secretrooms.nl and intimate Sinterklaas poems to a mistress.
A fellow clerk, who no longer works at the office, had to cancel clients even though he knew that the notary had sexual appointments outside the office. “This reached such proportions that he was absent several times a week and customers were canceled six to seven times in a row,” NRC notes.
One of the documents found on the office computer was an agreement between a couple and a Drenthe notary. The couple provided sexual services in exchange for the payment of 500 euros. The sex took place at the notary’s office, between 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM, as stated in the agreement.
The case was first heard in December. In the court in Arnhem, the lawyer for the complainants argues for the toughest disciplinary measure available: according to him, the notary should be immediately removed from office. “Apart from the office and partnership, he has damaged the entire notarial profession.”
The notary admits from the dock through his lawyer that he made wrong choices. He is said to regret it “tremendously” and to have “learned a lesson”. However, he cannot be blamed for the behavior because the sports bag (with women’s lingerie, boxer shorts and high heels) and the documents were allegedly obtained unlawfully.
The disciplinary judge ruled last Wednesday that the notary’s dysfunction had not been sufficiently convincingly proven. Yet he is given disciplinary action. The notary is being reprimanded for “transgressive sexual escapades that took place in the office and during office hours, which seriously damaged the honor and reputation of and confidence in the notary office.” According to the disciplinary judge, the notary has inadmissibly mixed his sexual private life with his work.
Lawyer Peter Kramer said on behalf of the reprimanded notary that “we have taken note of the decision and will study it carefully.” Both complainants informed NRC that they will appeal.