The municipality of Hoogeveen wanted to discharge the contractor NTP, but a legal battle went too far. This was apparent last night from a municipal meeting about incorrectly sent invoices paid by the municipality.
Although the contractor admitted forgery, NTP is still carrying out work for Hoogeveen. “We looked very penetratingly at the possibility of immediately saying goodbye to NTP. It was not there. That was also legally sorted out,” said Alderman Derk Reneman (partyless) tonight. “The contract we are in is binding.”
Without saying it in so many words, Reneman hinted on an approaching separation. Before 2025 and 2026, contractors are searched in a different way through European tender. Incidentally, NTP can report in the battle for contracts, because Hoogeveen is not allowed to exclude parties in advance.
Reneman, mayor Breukelman and municipal secretary Karin Cornelissen were questioned about the ‘asphalt file’. A project leader of the municipality paid NTP tons for unauthorized activities, at the end of 2023. Investigations started, followed a declaration against the civil servant and a debate about methods and culture started within the civil service.
The employee was not prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service (OM), because investigations showed that the official had not enriched himself. A declaration against the contractor was not forthcoming. The official did receive a note in his personnel file.
Although the contractor himself admitted to having committed forgery, the question is whether that would also be legally demonstrated. Reneman: “You then enter a very legal process with an uncertain outcome,” he said after asking PvdA member Jan de Goede. The municipality felt little for a dragging and expensive legal process.
Due to the privacy of those involved and business -sensitive information, not everything was allowed to be discussed in public. Part of the meeting was therefore behind closed doors.
Many documents also remained indoor rooms, such as the reporting text of the municipality. Martien van Dijk (ChristenUnie) found that the municipality insisted on the OM on the dismissal of the case.
Mayor Breukelman shot that in the wrong way. He repeated several times that the OM did independent research and made a decision based on that. Breukelman also said that making a report to his own employee is a ‘big step’. “I have never experienced that in my 25 years at the government,” said civil servants Cornelissen.
According to Cornelissen, the incorrect payment of invoices could happen because processes within the civil service are not in order. Because not all rules are clearly on paper, it appears that it is difficult for civil servants to address each other on errors.
“Very annoying, it’s just wrong. But it’s not very surprising,” she said. “This could happen in the soil that we did not have in order at that time.” According to Cornelissen, work has already been done on improving processes, but that has been accelerated by the ‘asphalt file’. For example, since January 1 of this year, civil servants are controlled differently.