There will be an investigation into the role of the city council and the Municipal Executive of Tiel in connection with the purchase of land on the Latenstein business park. That is the conclusion of Wednesday evening’s council meeting.
Tiel councilors had NRC questioned the role of Alderman Frank Groen’s father-in-law, who had sold land in January to a company that accommodates migrant workers. According to one of the councilors, this has created at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. The question was, among other things, whether the alderman’s father-in-law was aware earlier than others that the city council supports the housing of migrant workers on industrial estates.
All steps in this file will be mapped out in the investigation. In addition, there will be an external investigation into the manners in and outside the council chamber. That investigation is broader and does not only concern the issue surrounding the industrial estate.
Also read: Fuss in Tiel about the ‘appearance of a conflict of interest’
Irritation about statements
Mayor Hans Beenakker (VVD) stated in the meeting that in general, and also in this specific case, good agreements have been made about the role of administrators with family members who are involved in certain files. In addition, there was a lot of irritation about councilors who had made statements about the family bond in NRC. “People are damaged with the words you have indicated,” said party chairman Wim de Boer of the Party for the Citizens (PvdB), the party of alderman Groen.
D66 councilor Ton Zuidema says he is happy that an investigation is underway. He hopes that this will make it clearer what exactly happened around the purchase of the land on the business park. “The handling of this file does not deserve the beauty prize. That would have been prevented if there had been transparency before, hopefully this will come from the investigation.”
Alderman Groen also welcomed the investigation.
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