Employment agency Randstad today filed a complaint against Sewert van Linden, Bernd Dam, and Camille van Gestel, founders of the Auxiliary Alliance Foundation. Randstad confirms this after reporting by Follow the Money (FTM). Last year, Randstad provided fifteen employees with the nonprofit initiative that brought face masks to the Netherlands. Randstad’s chief legal officer told FTM that it was not known at the time that the three had made a profit of €20 million. Attorney Peter Plasmann submitted the report to the Public Prosecution Office in Amsterdam.
Staff provided by Randstad were involved, among other things, in the recruitment of new people, testing of mouth coverings and logistics for the Auxiliary Forces Alliance. The recruitment agency paid them, assuming the organization was not for profit. But without their knowledge, according to Randstad, the employees took part in the commercial activities of Relief Goods Alliance, which brought in profits.
“We were involved in this from the start, because we thought it was a non-profit initiative to provide health care with face masks,” says Patrick van der Herberg, chief legal officer. “Everyone did it thinking everything was a non-profit. It also led to an amazing collaboration on that group. You can imagine it came as a shock to us when we found out last May that millions had just been made. We think it’s not true, Then you have to do something.”
Randstad asked Van Linden, Dam, and Van Gestel to pay the government millions, but they didn’t want to. The FTM reported that Randstad made an initial claim in the summer for between €100,000 and €150.00 for the hours the 15 employees worked. In mid-October, Plasman announced that he would file a report on behalf of five people involved. Randstad now believes that this approach was more in line with the actual goal, namely that all money should be returned to the state.
