According to the Public Prosecution Service, Van D. allowed himself to be bribed by N. and provided around twenty passports with a false photo in the period between May 2009 and October 2014. She would have received about 1000 euros per travel document for this. N. would have supplied the passports to several criminal contacts, including Taghi, the prosecutor said. The Public Prosecution Service also suspects N. of laundering the money, at least 16,000 euros.
The case came to light about two years ago. N., who is detained in another case, was not present at the hearing. According to his lawyer, he is currently invoking his right to remain silent. Van D. was there. She indicated that she does not have enough money for a lawyer, since she earns just above the income limit to be assigned a lawyer. In view of the complexity of the case, the court decided to appoint a lawyer as an exception.
The substantive hearing is scheduled for November 28 and December 1.
Last Friday, State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Digitalization) wrote to the House of Representatives that there are “structural problems” with the way passports are issued in the Netherlands, resulting in “errors and fraud”. For example, there are already dozens of examples of official passports with falsified data, created by corrupt officials. For example, they create a document with a false name in it, or a fake photo.