Peter Gillis is not allowed to settle migrant workers on a former race track in the Limburg village of Baarlo. The Brabant entrepreneur and TV personality wanted to build 175 chalets there, because the migrant workers can no longer go to a neighboring campsite of Gillis. The race track is opposite that campsite.
The municipality of Peel en Maas refuses the permit after testing for integrity in accordance with the Bibob, the Act on the Promotion of Integrity Assessments by Public Administration. It “shows that there is a serious danger that the license will be used to use (presumably) illegally generated assets and possibly commit criminal offenses,” the municipality said on Wednesday.
The decision is final. Gillis was able to respond to a design decision earlier, which he did. But his response did not lead to a different judgment from the municipality.
A spokesperson for Gillis was unable to immediately provide a substantive response on Wednesday. “We are studying the decision and will come back to it later,” he said.
Peel en Maas recently imposed a penalty of 1 million euros on Gillis for illegally housing migrant workers at camping De Berckt in Baarlo. A procedure is still ongoing regarding the penalty payment, and a hearing will probably be held in early December. Gillis therefore wanted to accommodate the labor migrants housed at De Berckt on the opposite site, but that is not allowed either.
It is yet another setback for Gillis and his Oostappen Group. The municipality of Valkenburg recently refused to grant the Oostappen Group a permit for a campsite in the hilly town of Limburg. There too, the rejection followed a Bibob investigation. The Oostappen Group bought camping Den Driesch in Valkenburg in November last year, and opened it without applying for an operating permit. Mayor Daan Prevoo closed the campsite, after which the permit was applied for. In vain, Bibob drew a line through the bill.
The permit application for a campsite in Soerendonk also failed on Bibob research.
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