Various municipalities in our province are sharpening the knives to see something of GroupCard’s money. The company that issued local gift and city passes went bankrupt a month ago. According to the NOS, 120 municipalities go after their money nationally, including Den Bosch, Bergen op Zoom and Helmond.
Duped municipalities will meet later this week, it will be decided whether they jointly sue the company and hold the former director personally liable, reports the NOS.
The municipality of Den Bosch informs the NOS that the owner of Groupcard is held liable for the damage. The company kept the money that municipalities had placed on their city passes and gift cards separately at a foundation. But fairly soon after the bankruptcy, the account of this Derdengelden Groupcard Foundation was empty. The bankruptcy trustee reported that the money was probably transferred to the Groupcard company to be able to pay the losses.
Hold the owner of BV liable
Den Bosch still had more than 211,000 euros at the GroupCard foundation. With that money, minima from the municipality could buy a new washing machine or fridge that uses less energy. The municipality calls it ‘unimaginable’ how the card producer has dealt with social money.
“We hold the owner of the BV liable, probably on the basis of an unlawful act,” the municipality reports. “Together with other municipalities, we take the necessary legal steps to tackle the person or people who did this.”
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More than four tons
Bergen op Zoom has now also engaged a lawyer. The municipality wants ‘more than four tons’ back from Groupcard. That money was intended for a do-it-yourself card, with which residents could buy insulation material for their home. Bergen op Zoom is considering joining a joint justice of municipalities.
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With almost a million euros, the municipality of Helmond is one of the largest municipal victims of the rumbling with money at Groupcard. The more than 923,000 euros that is lost was also for a white goods and insulation scheme for minima. “Together with a few other municipalities, we have engaged a lawyer who will personally hold the director liable for the damage,” says a spokesperson for the municipality of Helmond.
‘Together in Steenbergen Pas’
In municipalities that collaborated with Groupcard, the local city passes also no longer work. For example, the so -called ‘Samen in Steenbergen Pas’ no longer worked in Steenbergen after the bankruptcy. With that pass, caregivers were able to pay at various local stores and facilities within the municipality.
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Through the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), more than 120 victims will soon talk about the situation. And what next steps they take against whom and how. The municipalities that the NOS spoke to Hinten to do this together.
Many affected municipalities also look for an answer to the question of how things could go wrong. Groupcard turned out not to have a permit for issuing gift cards, the supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) already confirmed to the NOS in the bankruptcy. Sources reported that DNB had already started an investigation into Groupcard, because the company should have had a permit.
In response to questions from the Bossche City Council whether this should not have been checked in advance, the municipality writes: “We are going to find out together with other municipalities what went wrong and how we can reduce the risk of this in the future.”