The civil trial starts on Monday of three young businessmen accused of making millions of euros selling face masks to the government during the coronavirus pandemic, after pretending they were working for a charity. 

Sywert van Lienden, Bernd Damme and Camille van Gestel earned some €28.5 million between them on the deal, which was brokered using Van Lieden’s government contacts. He was a prominent member of the CDA. 

The trio procured 40 million masks at the start of the pandemic in April 2020, ostensibly through a non-profit organisation called Stichting Hulptroepen Alliantie. But it later emerged the bulk of the €100 million deal to supply masks to the health ministry had been routed through a limited company, Relief Goods Alliance, of which the trio were shareholders.

Now the foundation and the Dutch state are suing the three men to get back the money in what was two separate cases but which have now been fused into one.

The case hinges on who knew what about the commercial nature of the deal. Van Lienden had vowed from the start to become ‘screamingly rich’ from the deal, recordings obtained by the Volkskrant newspaper later revealed. Van Lienden himself claims officials were aware the deal was being routed through a limited company.

As well as Monday’s civil case, the three men are also the subject of a criminal investigation, but the public prosecution department has not said whether that probe will likely lead to a second trial. 

Last week, Van Lienden gave a string of interviews to the Dutch press in the run-up to the trial, professing that he was unable to afford a lawyer because his bank accounts had been sequestered and telling the Financieele Dagblad he was living off €15 per week.

The Volkskrant reported in June last year that the Dutch government prioritised “politically sensitive” bidders for protective equipment contracts at the start of the coronavirus pandemic because it was anxious about negative publicity.

The paper said that the health ministry drew up a ‘VIP lane’ of 239 bidders, mostly big businesses and well-connected entrepreneurs, out of the 3,600 offers to buy face masks, surgical gloves and other medical garments.