New checks for Wilders’ security detail but no crime gang involved
Everyone involved in the security around PVV leader Geert Wilders is to undergo a new screening, police chiefs said in a statement on Saturday.
The new probe will involve everyone directly and indirectly linked to Wilders’ security with the aim of ensuring ‘no fact or situation goes unchecked’, police said in a statement.
The statement follows revelations last week about potential security leaks among several officials involved with Wilders’ round the clock protection.
Lawyer Peter Plasman has told current affairs show Nieuwsuur that Faris K, the security official arrested last week for leaking information, had not passed on information to a criminal gang as claimed in the media.
Instead, K had been showing off about his work to impress two female friends, Plasman said. Wilders can be sure that he was in no danger, Plasman said.
‘My client talks too much,’ the lawyer said.
No link
The public prosecution department has confirmed that there was no link to a money-laundering gang and did not protest when judges released K from custody on Thursday. ‘There is no indication so far that he shared information with a criminal organisation,’ the department said.
Faris was the subject of an investigation at the end of 2015 when he checked up on a car number plate that was not related to his work, Plasman said.
On Friday it also emerged that two brothers who worked on the security detail had been suspended for ‘financial irregularities’ in 2015. They are still considered to be suspects but it is unclear if any charges have been brought against them.
Wilders said in a reaction to the latest developments that the department charged with is security was ‘a total mess’. He cancelled a planned walkabout in Volendam on Saturday saying he could not be sure that he and his team are safe.
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