The D66 Party Board will consider again the investigation into cross-border behavior by a prominent party. the reason is Reports by de Volkskrant, that a classified part of the report was kept secret by the party leadership for more than a year.

A written statement states that the current board will “weigh the report, the public and confidential part, very carefully to see if they can draw different conclusions from it than what has been done previously.”

The case revolves around Frans van Drimmelen, a well-known lobbyist and party strategist at D66. According to de Volkskrant, the confidential part of the report indicates that he is indeed guilty of stalking behaviour. He allegedly threatened and blackmailed an employee. It also states that the police have formally called him to warn him.

never public

Ahead of parliamentary elections in March last year, party leader Kaag said the investigation showed there was no doubt that there was a “structurally unsafe environment” within the D66. This statement was based on the public portion of the report, but investigators continued to request information in the meantime. Its conclusions have not been announced.

The board now says Kaag “has no access” to the confidential contribution to the BING research agency report. According to the board of directors, this is also inappropriate, because Kaag was not the customer, but the board of directors at that time.

Safe party for everyone

Kag says again today that her party should be a safe party for everyone. “I therefore support the current Board of Directors’ decision to look at both parts of the report with fresh eyes.” In de Volkskrant, four party members discuss a new investigation, but that does not appear to be happening.

The current party board maintains that the BING investigation did not show that there was sexual harassment or abuse of power by Van Drimmelen. The Research Office confirmed this again today to the Board of Directors.

“This does not mean that there was no undesirable or contrary behavior at the time,” the council explains in the statement. The public part of the report indicated that discussions had taken place with the police, but this was not discussed in more detail. This explanation was in the confidentiality section.

Office: the conclusions align

But this part was only shared with those involved, the then party chairman and deputy party chief, for privacy reasons. “The initiative and desire for secrecy are not part of the D66,” the statement read. “We of course respect that.”

Research agency BING says the conclusions from the confidential part of the report are in line with those from the public part. There was no question of sexual intimidation or abuse of power by Van Drimmelen. D66 also asked the Bureau to investigate the matter. According to BING, the story in Volkskrant is about stalking behaviour.