The fact that the most notorious criminal in the Netherlands – locked up in the best-guarded prison – uses his cousin as a lawyer was no cause for alarm for the Dutch Bar Association. Then NRC a week after the attack on Peter R. de Vries learned that cousin Youssef T. was part of Ridouan Taghi’s team of lawyers, the Bar emphasized that there is no legal obstacle for lawyers to assist family members.
A lawyer must act “independently” and act with professional distance, according to the bar association – which is responsible for the professional rules and rules of conduct. “In the first instance, it is up to the lawyer himself to assess whether he can comply with this in the given circumstances,” the Bar Association said in a statement. The Order pointed out that T. works “in a broad team of civil and criminal lawyers” and – like all lawyers – is supervised by a local dean.
It turned out Friday that it seems to be lacking in T.’s professional distance. After the umpteenth visit to cousin Ridouan, he was arrested in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI). After months of investigation, the Public Prosecution Service suspects T. of membership in a criminal organization. As Taghi’s messenger, he secretly provided communication with the criminal outside world, according to the Public Prosecution Service. From his cell, Taghi would stage a violent outbreak and continue drug trafficking.
In their client-lawyer relationship, Taghi and T. had the right to speak and exchange documents in complete confidence. According to the OM, T. visited many times for hours. In principle, the Public Prosecution Service could never have found out what they were discussing. But the examining magistrate gave the judiciary very exceptionally permission to monitor their communication.
After the arrest, outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker (VVD) noted that “many will be surprised that a relative of a detainee” has “more or less undisturbed access” in the strictest detention regime in the country. Dekker states that he will investigate whether the rules for the legal profession are still adequate in the light of ‘serious organized criminal organisations’.
Also read: OM: Taghi planned violent escape with lawyer
‘Legal department’
To the fury and annoyance of lawyers, the police and the judiciary regularly state that lawyers allow themselves to be used by criminals. In the Marengo liquidation process against Taghi, the Public Prosecution Service reported last year that lawyers leaked confidential information to accomplices of Taghi in 2015. It would be the criminal lawyers Christian Flokstra, Leon van Kleef, Khalid Kasem (nowadays TV presenter) and Yassine Bouchikhi. However, investigations of their local deans – regulators of the legal profession – yielded no evidence for this.
In the recent criminal proceedings of the Dutch provider Ennetcom of PGP telephones loved by criminals, the Public Prosecution Service and the court stated that unnamed lawyers allowed themselves to be used for product development. They passed on official reports from other criminal cases with information about how the Netherlands Forenic Institute (NFI) had cracked PGP telephones. With that technical knowledge, Ennetcom could better protect its products.
The Amsterdam Public Prosecutor George Rasker has recently made no bones about it. He bound the book Narconomics – on Latin American drug cartels – with the Netherlands. “Just like legal organizations, criminal organizations also have a legal department,” signed Het Parool from his mouth during a criminal case involving the discovery of 59 kilos of cocaine. “The lawyer will ensure that the suspects do not say too much about each other, about their direct contacts or their client.” Yehudi Moszkowicz, lawyer in the drug case, then took the Public Prosecution Service to court to demand a rectification because he was portrayed as an extension of a criminal organization.
“Trust that lawyers serve the law independently,” criminal lawyers Max den Blanken and Patrick van der Meij wrote in an opinion piece. NRC partly because of this ‘shameful’, unsubstantiated accusation.
Also read: Trust that lawyers serve the law independently(Opinion)
No Surrender
“The police and the judiciary have said for years that they have had a lot of information about lawyers that goes far beyond the mark and that the self-cleaning ability among lawyers is too limited,” observes Professor of Criminology Hans Nelen of Maastricht University. “Vice versa, the legal profession says: the number of criminal cases can be counted on one hand, where are all those cases then? And why is the blanket not informed about it?”
In the distant past, Nelen investigated criminal suspicions against lawyers for criminal involvement. Of the eleven lawyers suspected from 1996 to 2001, five were prosecuted and three were convicted. That picture is not fundamentally different now, he thinks. “Very few” lawyers face criminal charges or disciplinary penalties for their involvement in criminal organizations.
A rare recent example that bears some resemblance to the T. case is that of the civil lawyer of No Surrender leader Klaas Otto. Jan Piet van R. smuggled Otto’s handwritten notes out of prison. The notes contained instructions to influence witnesses in a case against Otto. Van R. was sentenced last year to two years in prison, also because kilos of amphetamine were found at his home. “As a lawyer, he is an essential part of the rule of law that is the Netherlands. The court finds it incomprehensible and astonishing that he has engaged in undermining the same rule of law.
Eleven regional blankets
It is special that Minister Dekker, following T.’s arrest, suggests adjusting the lawyer’s rules himself. The approximately 18,000 lawyers in the Netherlands are subject to a system of self-regulation. The Dutch Bar Association plays the leading role in this and draws up the rules of professional conduct and conduct. Eleven regional deans oversee compliance.
Maaike Bomers, the dean of Gelderland, knew that Youssef T. was going to assist his cousin. She refuses to answer questions about the matter and her actions. The Dutch Bar Association sees no reason in T.’s arrest to adjust their view expressed this summer on assisting family members. The Order finds it “too early” for a response to Minister Dekker’s possible interventions.
Professor Nelen hopes that T.’s arrest will lead to a discussion among lawyers about their independence from their client. This can be compromised in all sorts of ways, including through family relationships. “But at the same time you also have to be careful that you put the profession en masse in the dock because of this case.”
The fact that the most notorious criminal in the Netherlands – locked up in the best-guarded prison – uses his cousin as a lawyer was no cause for alarm for the Dutch Bar Association. Then NRC a week after the attack on Peter R. de Vries learned that cousin Youssef T. was part of Ridouan Taghi’s team of lawyers, the Bar emphasized that there is no legal obstacle for lawyers to assist family members.
A lawyer must act “independently” and act with professional distance, according to the bar association – which is responsible for the professional rules and rules of conduct. “In the first instance, it is up to the lawyer himself to assess whether he can comply with this in the given circumstances,” the Bar Association said in a statement. The Order pointed out that T. works “in a broad team of civil and criminal lawyers” and – like all lawyers – is supervised by a local dean.
It turned out Friday that it seems to be lacking in T.’s professional distance. After the umpteenth visit to cousin Ridouan, he was arrested in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI). After months of investigation, the Public Prosecution Service suspects T. of membership in a criminal organization. As Taghi’s messenger, he secretly provided communication with the criminal outside world, according to the Public Prosecution Service. From his cell, Taghi would stage a violent outbreak and continue drug trafficking.
In their client-lawyer relationship, Taghi and T. had the right to speak and exchange documents in complete confidence. According to the OM, T. visited many times for hours. In principle, the Public Prosecution Service could never have found out what they were discussing. But the examining magistrate gave the judiciary very exceptionally permission to monitor their communication.
After the arrest, outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker (VVD) noted that “many will be surprised that a relative of a detainee” has “more or less undisturbed access” in the strictest detention regime in the country. Dekker states that he will investigate whether the rules for the legal profession are still adequate in the light of ‘serious organized criminal organisations’.
Also read: OM: Taghi planned violent escape with lawyer
‘Legal department’
To the fury and annoyance of lawyers, the police and the judiciary regularly state that lawyers allow themselves to be used by criminals. In the Marengo liquidation process against Taghi, the Public Prosecution Service reported last year that lawyers leaked confidential information to accomplices of Taghi in 2015. It would be the criminal lawyers Christian Flokstra, Leon van Kleef, Khalid Kasem (nowadays TV presenter) and Yassine Bouchikhi. However, investigations of their local deans – regulators of the legal profession – yielded no evidence for this.
In the recent criminal proceedings of the Dutch provider Ennetcom of PGP telephones loved by criminals, the Public Prosecution Service and the court stated that unnamed lawyers allowed themselves to be used for product development. They passed on official reports from other criminal cases with information about how the Netherlands Forenic Institute (NFI) had cracked PGP telephones. With that technical knowledge, Ennetcom could better protect its products.
The Amsterdam Public Prosecutor George Rasker has recently made no bones about it. He bound the book Narconomics – on Latin American drug cartels – with the Netherlands. “Just like legal organizations, criminal organizations also have a legal department,” signed Het Parool from his mouth during a criminal case involving the discovery of 59 kilos of cocaine. “The lawyer will ensure that the suspects do not say too much about each other, about their direct contacts or their client.” Yehudi Moszkowicz, lawyer in the drug case, then took the Public Prosecution Service to court to demand a rectification because he was portrayed as an extension of a criminal organization.
“Trust that lawyers serve the law independently,” criminal lawyers Max den Blanken and Patrick van der Meij wrote in an opinion piece. NRC partly because of this ‘shameful’, unsubstantiated accusation.
Also read: Trust that lawyers serve the law independently(Opinion)
No Surrender
“The police and the judiciary have said for years that they have had a lot of information about lawyers that goes far beyond the mark and that the self-cleaning ability among lawyers is too limited,” observes Professor of Criminology Hans Nelen of Maastricht University. “Vice versa, the legal profession says: the number of criminal cases can be counted on one hand, where are all those cases then? And why is the blanket not informed about it?”
In the distant past, Nelen investigated criminal suspicions against lawyers for criminal involvement. Of the eleven lawyers suspected from 1996 to 2001, five were prosecuted and three were convicted. That picture is not fundamentally different now, he thinks. “Very few” lawyers face criminal charges or disciplinary penalties for their involvement in criminal organizations.
A rare recent example that bears some resemblance to the T. case is that of the civil lawyer of No Surrender leader Klaas Otto. Jan Piet van R. smuggled Otto’s handwritten notes out of prison. The notes contained instructions to influence witnesses in a case against Otto. Van R. was sentenced last year to two years in prison, also because kilos of amphetamine were found at his home. “As a lawyer, he is an essential part of the rule of law that is the Netherlands. The court finds it incomprehensible and astonishing that he has engaged in undermining the same rule of law.
Eleven regional blankets
It is special that Minister Dekker, following T.’s arrest, suggests adjusting the lawyer’s rules himself. The approximately 18,000 lawyers in the Netherlands are subject to a system of self-regulation. The Dutch Bar Association plays the leading role in this and draws up the rules of professional conduct and conduct. Eleven regional deans oversee compliance.
Maaike Bomers, the dean of Gelderland, knew that Youssef T. was going to assist his cousin. She refuses to answer questions about the matter and her actions. The Dutch Bar Association sees no reason in T.’s arrest to adjust their view expressed this summer on assisting family members. The Order finds it “too early” for a response to Minister Dekker’s possible interventions.
Professor Nelen hopes that T.’s arrest will lead to a discussion among lawyers about their independence from their client. This can be compromised in all sorts of ways, including through family relationships. “But at the same time you also have to be careful that you put the profession en masse in the dock because of this case.”
The fact that the most notorious criminal in the Netherlands – locked up in the best-guarded prison – uses his cousin as a lawyer was no cause for alarm for the Dutch Bar Association. Then NRC a week after the attack on Peter R. de Vries learned that cousin Youssef T. was part of Ridouan Taghi’s team of lawyers, the Bar emphasized that there is no legal obstacle for lawyers to assist family members.
A lawyer must act “independently” and act with professional distance, according to the bar association – which is responsible for the professional rules and rules of conduct. “In the first instance, it is up to the lawyer himself to assess whether he can comply with this in the given circumstances,” the Bar Association said in a statement. The Order pointed out that T. works “in a broad team of civil and criminal lawyers” and – like all lawyers – is supervised by a local dean.
It turned out Friday that it seems to be lacking in T.’s professional distance. After the umpteenth visit to cousin Ridouan, he was arrested in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI). After months of investigation, the Public Prosecution Service suspects T. of membership in a criminal organization. As Taghi’s messenger, he secretly provided communication with the criminal outside world, according to the Public Prosecution Service. From his cell, Taghi would stage a violent outbreak and continue drug trafficking.
In their client-lawyer relationship, Taghi and T. had the right to speak and exchange documents in complete confidence. According to the OM, T. visited many times for hours. In principle, the Public Prosecution Service could never have found out what they were discussing. But the examining magistrate gave the judiciary very exceptionally permission to monitor their communication.
After the arrest, outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker (VVD) noted that “many will be surprised that a relative of a detainee” has “more or less undisturbed access” in the strictest detention regime in the country. Dekker states that he will investigate whether the rules for the legal profession are still adequate in the light of ‘serious organized criminal organisations’.
Also read: OM: Taghi planned violent escape with lawyer
‘Legal department’
To the fury and annoyance of lawyers, the police and the judiciary regularly state that lawyers allow themselves to be used by criminals. In the Marengo liquidation process against Taghi, the Public Prosecution Service reported last year that lawyers leaked confidential information to accomplices of Taghi in 2015. It would be the criminal lawyers Christian Flokstra, Leon van Kleef, Khalid Kasem (nowadays TV presenter) and Yassine Bouchikhi. However, investigations of their local deans – regulators of the legal profession – yielded no evidence for this.
In the recent criminal proceedings of the Dutch provider Ennetcom of PGP telephones loved by criminals, the Public Prosecution Service and the court stated that unnamed lawyers allowed themselves to be used for product development. They passed on official reports from other criminal cases with information about how the Netherlands Forenic Institute (NFI) had cracked PGP telephones. With that technical knowledge, Ennetcom could better protect its products.
The Amsterdam Public Prosecutor George Rasker has recently made no bones about it. He bound the book Narconomics – on Latin American drug cartels – with the Netherlands. “Just like legal organizations, criminal organizations also have a legal department,” signed Het Parool from his mouth during a criminal case involving the discovery of 59 kilos of cocaine. “The lawyer will ensure that the suspects do not say too much about each other, about their direct contacts or their client.” Yehudi Moszkowicz, lawyer in the drug case, then took the Public Prosecution Service to court to demand a rectification because he was portrayed as an extension of a criminal organization.
“Trust that lawyers serve the law independently,” criminal lawyers Max den Blanken and Patrick van der Meij wrote in an opinion piece. NRC partly because of this ‘shameful’, unsubstantiated accusation.
Also read: Trust that lawyers serve the law independently(Opinion)
No Surrender
“The police and the judiciary have said for years that they have had a lot of information about lawyers that goes far beyond the mark and that the self-cleaning ability among lawyers is too limited,” observes Professor of Criminology Hans Nelen of Maastricht University. “Vice versa, the legal profession says: the number of criminal cases can be counted on one hand, where are all those cases then? And why is the blanket not informed about it?”
In the distant past, Nelen investigated criminal suspicions against lawyers for criminal involvement. Of the eleven lawyers suspected from 1996 to 2001, five were prosecuted and three were convicted. That picture is not fundamentally different now, he thinks. “Very few” lawyers face criminal charges or disciplinary penalties for their involvement in criminal organizations.
A rare recent example that bears some resemblance to the T. case is that of the civil lawyer of No Surrender leader Klaas Otto. Jan Piet van R. smuggled Otto’s handwritten notes out of prison. The notes contained instructions to influence witnesses in a case against Otto. Van R. was sentenced last year to two years in prison, also because kilos of amphetamine were found at his home. “As a lawyer, he is an essential part of the rule of law that is the Netherlands. The court finds it incomprehensible and astonishing that he has engaged in undermining the same rule of law.
Eleven regional blankets
It is special that Minister Dekker, following T.’s arrest, suggests adjusting the lawyer’s rules himself. The approximately 18,000 lawyers in the Netherlands are subject to a system of self-regulation. The Dutch Bar Association plays the leading role in this and draws up the rules of professional conduct and conduct. Eleven regional deans oversee compliance.
Maaike Bomers, the dean of Gelderland, knew that Youssef T. was going to assist his cousin. She refuses to answer questions about the matter and her actions. The Dutch Bar Association sees no reason in T.’s arrest to adjust their view expressed this summer on assisting family members. The Order finds it “too early” for a response to Minister Dekker’s possible interventions.
Professor Nelen hopes that T.’s arrest will lead to a discussion among lawyers about their independence from their client. This can be compromised in all sorts of ways, including through family relationships. “But at the same time you also have to be careful that you put the profession en masse in the dock because of this case.”
The fact that the most notorious criminal in the Netherlands – locked up in the best-guarded prison – uses his cousin as a lawyer was no cause for alarm for the Dutch Bar Association. Then NRC a week after the attack on Peter R. de Vries learned that cousin Youssef T. was part of Ridouan Taghi’s team of lawyers, the Bar emphasized that there is no legal obstacle for lawyers to assist family members.
A lawyer must act “independently” and act with professional distance, according to the bar association – which is responsible for the professional rules and rules of conduct. “In the first instance, it is up to the lawyer himself to assess whether he can comply with this in the given circumstances,” the Bar Association said in a statement. The Order pointed out that T. works “in a broad team of civil and criminal lawyers” and – like all lawyers – is supervised by a local dean.
It turned out Friday that it seems to be lacking in T.’s professional distance. After the umpteenth visit to cousin Ridouan, he was arrested in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI). After months of investigation, the Public Prosecution Service suspects T. of membership in a criminal organization. As Taghi’s messenger, he secretly provided communication with the criminal outside world, according to the Public Prosecution Service. From his cell, Taghi would stage a violent outbreak and continue drug trafficking.
In their client-lawyer relationship, Taghi and T. had the right to speak and exchange documents in complete confidence. According to the OM, T. visited many times for hours. In principle, the Public Prosecution Service could never have found out what they were discussing. But the examining magistrate gave the judiciary very exceptionally permission to monitor their communication.
After the arrest, outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker (VVD) noted that “many will be surprised that a relative of a detainee” has “more or less undisturbed access” in the strictest detention regime in the country. Dekker states that he will investigate whether the rules for the legal profession are still adequate in the light of ‘serious organized criminal organisations’.
Also read: OM: Taghi planned violent escape with lawyer
‘Legal department’
To the fury and annoyance of lawyers, the police and the judiciary regularly state that lawyers allow themselves to be used by criminals. In the Marengo liquidation process against Taghi, the Public Prosecution Service reported last year that lawyers leaked confidential information to accomplices of Taghi in 2015. It would be the criminal lawyers Christian Flokstra, Leon van Kleef, Khalid Kasem (nowadays TV presenter) and Yassine Bouchikhi. However, investigations of their local deans – regulators of the legal profession – yielded no evidence for this.
In the recent criminal proceedings of the Dutch provider Ennetcom of PGP telephones loved by criminals, the Public Prosecution Service and the court stated that unnamed lawyers allowed themselves to be used for product development. They passed on official reports from other criminal cases with information about how the Netherlands Forenic Institute (NFI) had cracked PGP telephones. With that technical knowledge, Ennetcom could better protect its products.
The Amsterdam Public Prosecutor George Rasker has recently made no bones about it. He bound the book Narconomics – on Latin American drug cartels – with the Netherlands. “Just like legal organizations, criminal organizations also have a legal department,” signed Het Parool from his mouth during a criminal case involving the discovery of 59 kilos of cocaine. “The lawyer will ensure that the suspects do not say too much about each other, about their direct contacts or their client.” Yehudi Moszkowicz, lawyer in the drug case, then took the Public Prosecution Service to court to demand a rectification because he was portrayed as an extension of a criminal organization.
“Trust that lawyers serve the law independently,” criminal lawyers Max den Blanken and Patrick van der Meij wrote in an opinion piece. NRC partly because of this ‘shameful’, unsubstantiated accusation.
Also read: Trust that lawyers serve the law independently(Opinion)
No Surrender
“The police and the judiciary have said for years that they have had a lot of information about lawyers that goes far beyond the mark and that the self-cleaning ability among lawyers is too limited,” observes Professor of Criminology Hans Nelen of Maastricht University. “Vice versa, the legal profession says: the number of criminal cases can be counted on one hand, where are all those cases then? And why is the blanket not informed about it?”
In the distant past, Nelen investigated criminal suspicions against lawyers for criminal involvement. Of the eleven lawyers suspected from 1996 to 2001, five were prosecuted and three were convicted. That picture is not fundamentally different now, he thinks. “Very few” lawyers face criminal charges or disciplinary penalties for their involvement in criminal organizations.
A rare recent example that bears some resemblance to the T. case is that of the civil lawyer of No Surrender leader Klaas Otto. Jan Piet van R. smuggled Otto’s handwritten notes out of prison. The notes contained instructions to influence witnesses in a case against Otto. Van R. was sentenced last year to two years in prison, also because kilos of amphetamine were found at his home. “As a lawyer, he is an essential part of the rule of law that is the Netherlands. The court finds it incomprehensible and astonishing that he has engaged in undermining the same rule of law.
Eleven regional blankets
It is special that Minister Dekker, following T.’s arrest, suggests adjusting the lawyer’s rules himself. The approximately 18,000 lawyers in the Netherlands are subject to a system of self-regulation. The Dutch Bar Association plays the leading role in this and draws up the rules of professional conduct and conduct. Eleven regional deans oversee compliance.
Maaike Bomers, the dean of Gelderland, knew that Youssef T. was going to assist his cousin. She refuses to answer questions about the matter and her actions. The Dutch Bar Association sees no reason in T.’s arrest to adjust their view expressed this summer on assisting family members. The Order finds it “too early” for a response to Minister Dekker’s possible interventions.
Professor Nelen hopes that T.’s arrest will lead to a discussion among lawyers about their independence from their client. This can be compromised in all sorts of ways, including through family relationships. “But at the same time you also have to be careful that you put the profession en masse in the dock because of this case.”