On Friday 21 April, the Rotterdam District Court acquitted a former alderman from The Hague and several others, of corruption. It was for the first time that the Public Prosecution Service (OM) had centred several party donations to a start-up local political party as the premise of official bribery. Not only were the officials of the political party on trial, but also the donors.

Weather balloon vision:

The court had first asked itself the following question from a special 'weather balloon view' referred to by the court: 'is it logical for two officials of a just starting local political party of a big city to be bribed with party donations?' and by extension questioned the likelihood of a criminal offence having been committed under these circumstances, answering: 'small!' and contemplates in flowery terms: "In a general sense, it is not obvious for a just-starting political party to furnish its toddlerhood and potential initial growth with offences such as official bribery with party donations as a basis. Many times, new parties are out for change and renewal stemming from idealistic motives. In that context, scattered seeds of corruption will soon fall on the rocks. From the briber's side, too, it is in general not obvious to pick a start-up party to buy influence, because that influence is simply far from certain."

Was there any ill intent?

The court then turned to the substance of the case. Having established that there had been party donations in the form of gifts, the court faced the question of whether the giver had malicious intent with the gift and that alderman should have recognised that malicious intent. Such evil intent can be based on the facts and circumstances at the front and/or back end of an official bribe. On the front end, malicious intent can be grounded on the outward appearance of the gift and/or giving. The more luxurious the gift, the greater the likelihood of influence. On the back end of official bribery, the giver's original malicious intent with the gift can be inferred from -the outward appearance -form of tangible favours/counter favours from the official to the giver or the official's apparent preferential treatment of the giver. One might think of a significant licence. If the malicious intent of the official's bribery is not so clear on the front end, it comes down more to the back end and vice versa.

No evil intentions on the front or back end

First, the court explained why there was no malicious intent at the front. Party donations are, in principle, made precisely with, simply put, a good intention. The personal contributions to the officials, namely three dinners of relative value and two fun days on a boat, could also not in themselves be classified as donations with ill intent. An ill intention could not subsequently be overleaf be inferred from quid pro quos performed by the councillor/official or preferential treatment of (one of) the entrepreneurs. There is no evidence that they enjoyed exclusive benefits.

Criminal law is not the solution to the lack of ground rules around party funding

Also unusual is the court's consideration that criminal law is not the solution in cases like this: "because of the importance of party donations as a show of rooting in society, they should not be restricted too much. Entrepreneurs in particular are in a position to support a local party with more significant contributions, they should not be deterred by a possible suspicion of corruption."At the same time, the court recognises that such support may in itself carry political influence. This case also raised the perception that the accused is running hard for the people of his city, but perhaps even harder for his supporters. That does not mean corruption. Practice proves more recalcitrant than theory and transparency is important, so political control should take place. This control of political influence takes place within the college and especially in the city council.

The case may have taken 12 session days, but in this case, it then resulted in a clear and workable verdict.

Mr. D.M. Penn