The House of Representatives’ daily board will convene on Thursday to determine if further investigation into Vera Bergkamp’s role in leaking official secrets is warranted. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) lacks the authority to investigate Bergkamp directly due to her former status as a politician during the time of the alleged leak.
The investigation stems from the leaking of information regarding an inquiry into allegations of transgressive behavior against former Speaker of the House, Khadija Arib. The leak occurred shortly before Arib was to be informed of the investigation initiated by Bergkamp and the daily board.
While Arib has been largely exonerated by an external investigation, the Public Prosecution Service has been investigating the leak itself, focusing on Bergkamp’s former spokesperson, Sonja K., and the former director of housing for the House, Jaap van R.
The criminal file reveals discrepancies in Bergkamp’s explanations to the National Criminal Investigation Department (Rijksrecherche) regarding her contact with Van R. both before and after the news of the Arib investigation leaked to NRC. Bergkamp struggled to justify these calls, as well as subsequent communication with Van R. the following morning.
Further complicating matters, Bergkamp’s spokesperson, Sonja K., initially claimed to have left work early due to a sick daughter but was later found to be near the NRC building in Amsterdam, coinciding with the start of communication between herself, Bergkamp, and the newspaper.
Deleted emails between Bergkamp and Sonja K., including a forwarded secret government lawyer’s advice, have also raised suspicions. Bergkamp and a House administrative head requested the deletion of these emails, citing concerns about digital information vulnerability, days before NRC quoted from the document. Messages between Bergkamp, K., and Van R. were also deleted.
Van R. is now revealed to be one of the authors of the anonymous letter that triggered the investigation into Arib’s behavior. He failed to disclose his involvement when urging the investigation, which the daily board deemed a crucial factor for initiating the inquiry.
Sonja K. will receive the court’s verdict in The Hague on Thursday. Following the court’s decision, the House’s daily board, led by chairman Martin Bosma, will announce their decision on whether to further investigate Bergkamp’s role, along with other top officials.