Dutch Senator Gom van Strien on Monday resigned from his role seeking to identify potential coalition partners for far-right election-winner Geert Wilders, after accusations of fraud resurfaced in Dutch media.
“This weekend, articles appeared in the media about activities in my past, in which my integrity is questioned,” van Strien said, according to NRC.
In the Netherlands, the leader of the party that wins the largest share of the vote in an election chooses a senior official to scout out possible governing coalition options. Wilders had appointed van Strien, who is also a member of his far-right Freedom Party, as his point man.
“In my view, both the unrest that has arisen about this and the preparation of a response to it do not relate to my current work as a scout,” van Strien said. “That is why I have informed Geert Wilders and the speaker of the House of Representatives that I will resign from my duties as scout with immediate effect.”
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Van Strien was supposed to begin talks on Monday with Wilders, as well as Frans Timmermans of the Social Democratic Party PVDA and the Dutch Green Left, Dilan Yesilgöz of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and Rob Jetten of D66.
But before talks could start, a report in NRC over the weekend triggered a backlash over Wilders’ choice. According to the report, van Strien’s previous employer Utrecht Holdings — a subsidiary of Utrecht University and the UMC Utrecht hospital — had filed charges of fraud and bribery against the politician, who was a director of the company until 2009.
Van Strien denied the accusations, calling them “unfounded” and saying he always complied with “all laws and regulations.”
Pieter Haeck contributed reporting.