Former businessman Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen is taking over as tax minister following the resignation of Folkert Idsinga, who quit last week saying the far-right PVV had held a “knife at his throat”.

Van Oostenbruggen, a junior minister on behalf of the good governance party NSC, is currently an MP, where he focuses on finance, employment and labour migration.

He is reported to have earned “dozens of millions of euros” from his work as a partner in a financial management company and from a flexible staffing agency.  

Van Oostenbruggen said after his appointment he will be happy as minister “if the Dutch have more confidence in the government, better grip on their own financial situation and trust in the financial future.”

Idsinga resigned after coming under increasing pressure to reveal the scope of his €6 million investment portfolio. Their number included the PVV, whose leader Geert Wilders said Idsinga’s refusal did not look like “good governance”.

Wilders’ words were a direct reference to NSC’s election campaign pledge to create a more robust, transparent system of government where MPs are more accountable to parliament.

Idsinga, a former VVD MP who joined Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC party last year, had declined to reveal which companies he held shares and other financial interests in, claiming it was a “private matter”.

He stressed that he had complied fully with the regulations, a point confirmed separately by prime minister Dick Schoof.

Van Oostenbruggen said that he had been “100% transparent” about his financial affairs with the prime minister and that he would make a full report.