apissedofperson

[apissedofperson]

Mark Rutte (condensed)

As many of you may know Mark Rutte is the Secretary General of NATO, however he has an extensive history in politicals that isn’t without it’s scandals. In fact he has been called the Teflon Prime minister . In honour of the Hague being closed off and the NATO top that is happening on the 24th and the 25th here is an overview of all his scandals as Prime Minister.

In the end I will be explaining my personal stance on this.

Bonnetjesaffaire (Teevendeal) 2015

Since this scandal is technically ‘resolved’ I will not be going into extreme detail, however I will be sure to add sources (probably in Dutch as I couldn’t really find any English articles about it) after my summary.

There had been something similar to a plea-deal (schikking) offered to the drugs criminal C. Halman concerning the money the Openbaar Ministerie seized (think Office of justice). This was because it had to be proven that the money was obtained illegally.

Making a schikking isn’t a scandal on it’s own, but not involving the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Office) and FIOD (The Financial and Tax Crime Investigation Office) is.

This scandal involved the State secretary of Safety and Justice Teeven (who was Officer of Justice for the case), Minister Ivo Opstelten and 4 more VVD bewindsleden (chamber members, I am unsure of the translation)

Now it is Mark Rutte’s reaction that I want to highlight. During debates he said that information about the Teevendeal didn’t reach him, that he had no knowledge of what happened. But as this happened under his first Premiership I still believe it is important to highlight.

Dutch sources 1 - 2 - 3 

Afschaffing dividendbelasting (Abolition of Dividend Tax, 2017)

I will be honest just like the first scandal the idea it’s self isn’t a scandal. But once more the communication was questionable. For the explanation of this scandal I will be using the following article mainly; Meesterburrie (2022).

During the formation of the cabinet VVD, CDA, D66 and CristenUnie in 2017 they agreed to abolish the dividend tax, however this wasn’t mention in any election programs and the kabinet said for the longest time that during the formation no documents were used for the idea of abolishing the dividend tax.

When a document did turn up, Rutte said that he couldn’t remember seeing the documents. He also said that didn’t mean he lied when he got critism from the second chamber.

“I didn’t say that there were no documents, but I said that I had no memories of the documents”, this was his defense during a debate in the Second Chamber on the 25th of April 2018. “I correctly informed the chamber about the fact that I had no recollection and that seems to be correct.”

Dutch sources 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Burgerdoden Hawija (Civilian deaths Hawija) 2019 - 2025

During the night of June 2 and 3, 2015 a Dutch fighter plane bombed a weapon storage of IS in the city Hawija. During this bombing 70 civilians lost their life, around a 100 civilians got seriously hurt.

The worst part? The Dutch ministry of Defence kept crucial information hidden. Evidence was hidden and that was only revealed quite recently.

Not only that the deaths is something that the ministry of Defence knew for year and even informed Rutte. But he said he didn’t remember.

Dutch sources 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

Toeslagenaffaire (Benefits scandal) 2012 – 2025 (perhaps even earlier)

Now this scandal is one I am terrified of explaining, terrified of doing injustice. It’s a crime just as the previous scandal, just on a different level. Yet, it shows patterns of the Dutch government that shouldn’t exist.

This summary will be based on what I was taught about this scandal and a few English articles as I am unsure of how to translate some Dutch articles properly.

The Belastingdienst had used a self-learning algorithm to create risk profiles in an effort to spot fraud when it came to (child care) benefits. Families were penalised for suspicions based on their ‘risk profiles’. They had to pay back their benefits. Ten of thousands of families forced into poverty because of a risk profile. A risk profile based on their income and ethic profiles. Some of the victims committed suicide and many children of these families were forced in foster care.

Families forced to go hungry because of an algorithm.

The Cabinet had hidden information from the Second Chamber, this stopped the Second Chamber from checking the Cabinet. From keeping them in check. And what did Rutte do? He denied it.

Formally information hasn’t been given either because Rutte said the following; “Nothing improper happened”

Dutch sources 1 - 2 - 3 - 4  English sources 1 - 2 - 3

Deleting messages

This one is a weird one, since it isn’t really a scandal to an extent. It just means that Rutte deleted messages instead of archiving them as they should have been done. This also means that if there was information in those messages they now can’t be used in investigations.

Basically Mark Rutte didn’t follow the Dutch Archive protocols for those that are a public servant/politician.

Dutch sources 1 - 2 - 3  English sources 1 - 2

Personal opinion

Well perhaps his deletion of messages is also why he kept forgetting to inform the Second Chamber of certain things. And why he kept forgetting everything in general. I am not convinced that it wasn't done without malicious intent.

Truthfully, his defence of forgetfulness just makes me scoff and raise an eyebrow. It also makes me wonder, do you really want such a forgetful man as the State secretary of NATO?

Besides that because he is the State secretary of NATO he has immunity, this pisses me off the most.

Either way I know this post isn't the best researched as I wanted to get this out before the NATO top starts, so I will be researching each scandal on it's own as well and creating a separate post.