A criminal investigation into rape charges against a top civil servant has failed to turn up any evidence him and the case has now been dropped.

The decision brings to an end 10 years of legal wrangling about whether Joris Demmink, former director general of the justice ministry, raped two boys in Turkey in the late 1990s.

Demmink (69) was accused of raping the boys, aged 12 and 14, in 2007 by a Turkish national jailed for life in 2002 for murder and drugs dealing. The case was picked up his lawyer Adèle van der Plas, on behalf of one of the boys in 2010. The other refused to press charges.

An initial investigation by the public prosecution department failed to turn up any evidence and in 2015, the appeal court ordered a formal criminal investigation.

The results of that three year probe are, the public prosecution says, conclusive. ‘I am convinced that the crimes so as described in the complaints never happened,’ justice ministry official Ronald Steen told the Volkskrant.

Paperwork

The investigators combed all Demmink’s papers, bank statements, travel documents, minutes of meetings and concert visits which took place in the period the rapes were said to have happened but failed to find any evidence he was in Turkey.

The documents were also checked thoroughly to find out if they had been forged, officials told the Volkskrant.

Turkey refused to cooperate with the investigation but a Turkish document purporting to show he was in Turkey is a fake, the investigators say.

Relieved

Demmink’s lawyer Jan Leliveld told the Volkskrant that his client is relieved about the ‘crystal clear’ decision of the court. ‘But he regrets all the accusations that have given shape to his life over the past 10 years, Leliveld said.

Demmink’s name has also cropped up in a secret investigation known as the Rolodex inquiry into child prostitution rings in the Netherlands in the 1980s.

In December 2014, Demmink lost his claim against the AD newspaper which published an article about his alleged contacts with a child pimp. The AD reported on the alleged contacts in October 2012, based on three different eye witnesses. The paper also quoted another source as saying boys had been picked up in Demmink’s car.