News item | 04-11-2022 | 18:30
Serious crime increasingly affects our secure society and open economy. The international drug trade is accompanied by large sums of criminal money, brutal violence and intimidation. Our democratic constitutional state is beyond naivety and must be defended. The fight against organized and subversive crime is being stepped up on all fronts: from the investigation, with international partners and the involvement of society as a whole. That writes Minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius of Justice and Security to the House of Representatives today
“We are good at tracking down criminal leaders. The Dutch investigative services are among the best in the world. Thanks to the cracking of encrypted message traffic, we have dealt a blow to serious crime together with international partners. In order to destroy the underlying criminal networks and to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for organized crime, we must take the following steps. We do this in our ports who want to abuse criminals for drug smuggling, in our neighborhoods to prevent young people from being recruited and with more effective investigative tools, for example by improving the crown witness scheme”,
said Minister Yeşilgöz.
This cabinet term will be heavily invested in the fight against organized and subversive crime. From this year, it concerns 375 million euros in incidental money (spread over six years) and from 2025 almost 700 million euros annually. In this way, the investigation and criminal justice chain can be structurally strengthened and cooperation can be sought with other partners. Such as the financial sector, the tax authorities and the FIOD with tackling criminal assets. With municipalities, schools and youth work to prevent young people from becoming major criminals. And with entrepreneurs, because criminals like to abuse our good economic infrastructure. Furthermore, for the preservation of our democratic constitutional state, it is an absolute condition that people on the front lines of the battle are also better protected against the aggression of serious crime. That is why investments are being made in strengthening and modernizing the monitoring and security system.
Crown witness scheme
According to Minister Yeşilgöz, one of the next steps in the more effective investigation and prosecution of serious criminals is to improve the crown witness scheme. In recent years, the deployment of key witnesses has made an important contribution to major investigations and prosecutions of serious criminals. Through the statements of witnesses who have themselves been involved in a criminal network, information emerges from within the underworld: about the key players, their liquidation assignments and about other serious criminal activities.
Minister Yeşilgöz wants to make the scheme more accessible for a different category of key witnesses. Not so much to use the instrument much more often, but above all to create more important possibilities for investigation. The current scheme is now especially interesting for major criminals, who face a long prison term. They can receive a maximum sentence reduction of 50 percent. But the relatively less serious criminals can also have a crucial knowledge position.
The smaller fish and helpers in the criminal circuit, such as financial experts or a key figure for drug smuggling through seaports, can have valuable information that can take down entire networks in serious crime. For less serious criminals, however, halving the prison sentence often does not seem to outweigh the disadvantages and risks of explaining about other criminals. In order to get the smaller fish into the crown witness system as well, the minister wants to make possible a wider sentence reduction for the group with lower criminal demands in prospect (a maximum of six years in prison). The statement must then contribute to the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes in such a way that it justifies the reduced sentence for the crown witness. In addition, more frameworks are built in for greater transparency and guarantees when using the instrument and also in the event that a key witness does not comply with the agreements.