Long-Term Care Minister Connie Helder has pledged that everything will be done to advance the investigation into the controversial mouth cover deal between the Ministry of Health and Sewert van Linden before the summer.
This is what Secretary Helder’s spokesman said on Tuesday when asked AP I know.
Earlier in the day, Helder and research agency Deloitte spoke to each other, following a row between the research agency and the Department of Health.
In the middle of last month, Deloitte wrote to the Department of Health that it needed more and better information from the department. Secretary-General Marcelles Beurebum responded to the letter with “astonishment” in a return letter and refused most requests for information.
The minister wants to share the first sub-study before the holiday
In order to “continue to have constructive discussions with one another”, an appointment was set between Secretary Helder and Deloitte. “Arrangements have been made to ensure that everything has been done to share the results of the first sub-study before the summer break,” a Helder spokesperson said in that conversation.
The spokesman said both parties had a common goal of “getting an accurate and complete picture as soon as possible on how the deal was reached”. The House of Representatives will be informed later this week of the conversation between the Department of Health and Deloitte.
The room’s patience with mouth coverings is over
The House of Representatives has long run out of patience. Helder has also said several times that he shares House impatience, but noted that it was an intense investigation.
The investigation into the mouth mask deal is one of the sub-studies into personal protective equipment purchased by the government during the coronavirus crisis.
Van Linden and his comrades earned several million
Initially, Deloitte will report on its findings in one go. Partly at the urgent request of the House of Representatives, priority is given to investigating the deal with Van Lienden.
CDA celebrity Van Linden and his associates were arrested at the beginning of March for investigating the controversial mouth mask deal. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the board members acted in violation of the foundation’s articles of association, because part of the profits would have been transferred to their own company. Together they would earn many millions from this.
