The politician appointed by the far-right PVV party, winner of the elections in the Netherlands, to examine the possibilities of forming a government, resigned this Monday, three days after his appointment and shortly before the start of the first meeting with the parties, after he had been accused of fraud at his former employer.
The senator Gom van Strien (PVV) resigned from his position immediately after it became known that he was involved in a suspected fraud case with his former employer.
“This weekend, articles appeared in the media about my work in the past, questioning my integrity,” he said in a statement, announcing that the “unrest that has arisen” is forcing him to resign his position as state ” “Discoverers” to give up. ” immediately”.
Van Strien was appointed on Friday Geert WildersChairman of the PVV, with the consent of the majority of the parties that achieved the best results in Wednesday’s elections, is taking charge of the first phase of government formation in the Netherlands, which consists of holding talks with various parties in order to ” “probing”. “Reconnoiter the terrain and prepare a report on possible coalitions before beginning real negotiations.
A subsidiary of Utrecht University and UCM Utrecht University Hospital, known as Utrecht Holdings, reported “irregularities involving three (former) employees” last March, and according to documents the Dutch newspaper NRC claims to have in its possession, it is one of them Van Strien, who was director of this company until 2009.
Utrecht Holding is dedicated to creating other companies to commercialize the university’s discoveries, and according to the newspaper, a report from consulting firm Deloitte said Van Strien and his successor invested shares in companies that spun out of the university or the UMC into the transferred to the hands of an external company.
According to the report, Van Strien’s wife and his successor’s wife each owned 32% of the outside company’s shares.
The senator initially defended himself by assuring that the allegations were “unfounded,” that he “categorically distanced himself from them,” and explained that he had received “a letter from the university containing numerous blatant inaccuracies,” to which he replied, but never received an answer.
The President of Parliament, Vera Bergkampwhich received Van Strien’s resignation today, noted in a note that it was important to “quickly appoint a new scout who can start work immediately” and stated that a new appointment would be discussed as soon as Wilders makes one introduce new candidates.
It is not clear what will happen to the agenda of meetings with party leaders this Monday, which included talks with Geert Wilders and then with Frans Timmermans (Left Bloc PvdA-GL) starting at 11:30 a.m. local time. Dilan Yesilgöz (right-wing liberal VVD) and Job Jetting (left-liberal D66).
Wilders won the election with 37 of the 150 seats of Parliament giving priority to trying to form a government.
The VVD declined to participate in a possible coalition, but is offering the strategic support of its 24 MPs for a center-right government that would include the 20 seats of the Christian Democrat NSC, Pieter Omtzigt and the 7 seats of the farmers’ party BBB.
