In Limburg, two administrators, independently of one another, have stolen some four tons from more than two hundred clients. Their victims were vulnerable people who were busy with eliminating high debts.
In both cases the justice department is working on a criminal case, says a spokesperson at 1 Limburg.
The court can assign a special administrator to people with high debts. Together with the debtor and creditors, they set out a process that sometimes takes years to pay off the debts. It is customary that he thereby gains access to the account of the debtor.
Roel D. (37), now a former administrator from Bunde, is suspected of having misused his position with 178 clients. He paid for his gambling addiction by withdrawing money from bills. He transferred a total of three tons to his own account. D. announced in 2018. He was suspended, a declaration was made. But the case still has to go to court.
Victims are furious
A similar situation occurred previously with Rick E. (33), a former administrator from Geleen. E. transferred money from more than seventy clients to his private account. He is said to have enriched himself with 90,000 euros. E. has been suspended since 2016. Also with him it has not yet come to a criminal case.
“Both cases are similar,” said the justice spokesperson. “The investigation is still ongoing. The longer lead time has to do with the limited capacity that the Public Prosecution Service in Limburg has to investigate this type of fraud.”
The victims of both former administrators are furious about the delay. “They are annoyed. Their case does not have any priority at law, because it takes a lot of manpower and a lot of research,” says lawyer Steve Zuidema, who assists different clients in both cases. “One simply pays vacations and own bills from the money of these people. The other brings it directly to the casino. Something has to be done with this.”
Where necessary, the victims now have a new administrator.
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