A prominent VVD politician should be jailed for four years for corruption, money laundering and fraud while working for Noord-Holland provincial council, the public prosecution department said on Monday.

Ton Hooijmaijers, 52, was planning chief at the province from 2005 to 2009 and is said to have channelled payments through an advice bureau he set up in 2001.

His wife Jocelyn P faces 240 hours community service, a €25,000 fine and three month suspended jail sentence for helping him.

In total, Hoojmaijers was paid €1.8m for his services by 62 different companies while working in local government, the public prosecutor claims.

Hooijmakers says he is innocent of all charges.

Long investigation

The investigation into Hooijmaijers has taken over three years and began with a raid on his home and several other addresses in 2010. He was in charge of planning and finance while a provincial council official.

Hooijmaijers lost his Noord-Holland job in 2009 in the wake of the collapse of Icelandic bank Icesave. He was partly responsible for the council’s decision to put €78m into the internet bank.

In September 2009 he also got into trouble after it emerged he had spent thousands of euros on the council’s credit card but had no receipts.