Sat, May 26 2012

Another court case in Maastrich-Bulgaria holiday home affair

Thu, Jan 07 2010 18:46 CET

byRene Beekman

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Another court case in Maastrich-Bulgaria holiday home affair

 
Photo: Marina Black Sea Riviera

With two days to go before the publication of the final report on an investigation into alleged abuse of office by Maastrich mayor Gerd Leers in an affair involving his personal holiday home in Bulgaria, the court in the Netherlands was asked to order a revision of the report.

The investigation by the Bureau Integrity Dutch Municipalities (BIDM) had been started after the affair went public in October 2009. According to a publication in Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Leers had, among others, sent a letter to the Bulgarian ambassador to The Netherlands about his conflict with the Bulgarian construction company responsible for the construction of his villa. Leers allegedly signed the letter as "Gerd Leers, mayor of Maastricht."

Top municipal official in Maastricht and shareholder in the Bulgarian construction company that sold the villa to Leers, Nico Nollen, had demanded his full reply would be included in the final version of the report before it was to be made public on January 9.

Already in December, Nollen had tried to have the investigation shut down.

Nollen's lawyer had asked to have the court hearing on January 7 take place behind closed doors, as a public hearing would have violated his client's obligation to confidentiality. A request the court accepted, Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad said.

The report is scheduled to be made public on January 9, after which it is to be discussed in the municipal general affairs committee on January 11 and in the Municipal Council on January 13. 

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