The Dutch House of Representatives’ presidium remains divided on whether to request a Supreme Court investigation into the leak of damaging, and partially untrue, information about former Speaker Khadija Arib. Current Speaker Martin Bosma has acknowledged the issue puts the reputation of the House at stake.

The presidium, the daily board of the House, met in an emergency session to discuss commissioning the Supreme Court to investigate the potential involvement of politicians in the leak. The meeting, lasting over three hours, ended without a consensus among the six members.

The leak, which occurred around September 28, 2022, involved anonymous complaints of transgressive behavior by Arib and the launch of an official investigation. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects senior officials of the House leaked this information to NRC Media, suggesting a potential political settling of scores.

Last week, senior official Sonja K. was acquitted due to lack of conclusive evidence, with the judge noting that other individuals, including Arib’s political rivals, could be responsible. The judge suggested the House request the Supreme Court to investigate politicians’ roles in the leak, as the Public Prosecution Service lacks the authority to investigate criminal offenses by politicians.

Former Speaker Vera Bergkamp’s role in the leak was also questioned during the trial. A total of 19 people had access to the confidential information at the time.

The presidium is scheduled to reconvene later this week to further discuss the Arib issue. It would be unprecedented in Dutch parliamentary history for the House to instruct the Supreme Court to initiate a criminal investigation into sitting politicians.