The Dutch government is stepping up the fight against corruption, as it appears that civil servants repeatedly leak sensitive personal data to criminals. The Ministers of Justice and Security and of the Interior are thus responding to Parliamentary questions by Mutluer (GroenLinks-PvdA), in response to a recent case at the municipality of Amsterdam, among others.
The concerns are serious. Criminals appear to seek out targeted officials who can provide them with information such as addresses, driver's license information or license plates. That information can be used directly for violent crimes, several criminal investigations show. According to the National Criminal Investigation Department, bribing officials is now a structural part of the earning model of organized crime. The AIVD confirms in its annual report that criminal networks sometimes even infiltrate government organizations to obtain information.
It is currently difficult to say exactly how many officials have been at fault in recent years. This is because police and justice department registration systems do not always keep track of the positions from which information has been leaked, or whether that information has been passed on to criminals. To get a better handle on this, manual file research would be necessary.
Yet municipalities and the state are not sitting still. Municipalities are trying to make their employees more resilient to outside pressure and are increasingly using the "Norm Weerbare Overheid. This standard helps in recognizing and preventing undermining influences. Municipalities are also paying more attention to integrity policy: certificates of good conduct are being requested more often, screening procedures are being tightened up and high-risk positions are being better identified.
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) supports this approach with practical guides. For example, a guide has been developed to identify vulnerable processes, and the VNG encourages municipalities to actively screen for integrity risks - both permanent employees and hired staff.
The national government is also taking measures. The National Audit Office actively warns municipalities about weaknesses, such as insufficient control over who has access to ICT systems or a lack of insight into staff members with financial problems. Since 2022, signaling cards have been in circulation to help officials recognize corrupt behavior. A separate version for administrators was added in 2024.
In addition, the Regional Information and Expertise Centers (RIECs) offer training and concrete support, and a special resilience package is available for municipal secretaries through the Resilient Governance program. An information campaign on identity fraud with travel documents is also underway.
Data protection regulator Authority (AP) oversees the handling of data breaches. If personal data is passed on to criminals by officials, this must be reported to both the AP and the affected citizens. The regulator is currently investigating how often municipal officials unlawfully access personal data. The results of that study are expected in September 2025. The annual data breach report will also be released soon.
Although municipalities are primarily responsible for their own integrity policies, they are actively supported by the national government. In cooperation with the VNG, vulnerabilities within municipal processes are being identified. Earlier research by the Verwey-Jonker Institute showed that virtually all processes within a municipality - especially smaller ones - can be susceptible to pressure or influence.
In addition, the government wants to prevent civil servants who have been dismissed elsewhere because of integrity violations from easily re-employing in another government agency. In 2025, measures will therefore be taken to prevent job hopping. These will include better reference checks, uniform VOG rules and stricter screening.
Ministers stress that protecting public officials from criminal pressure, and strengthening the resilience of public institutions, is essential to the functioning of the rule of law. Tackling corruption therefore remains a spearhead of Cabinet policy, as reaffirmed in the policy program shared with the House of Representatives on June 20.
