They will not investigate what happened in earlier years, says university president Sibrand Poppema, even though the swindling had been occurring since the early ‘90s, say business owners involved in the case.

Poppema does not know how far back the independent research by fraud investigatory agency Hoffmann will go. ‘I have heard that some former employees might be involved. But should we be going after people from the past? We’re going to let sleeping dogs lie’, he says.

Primary suspect Hans G. has worked at the RUG for 33 years and the investigative service says he has caused hundreds of thousands of euros of harm to the university.

Biggest cases

According to the RUG president, it will take a lot of time to analyse all the financial information from earlier years. Moreover, the RUG is unable to take any measures against former employees. The FIOD focuses only on the ‘biggest cases’, according to Poppema. The investigative service’s spokesperson was unable to respond.

As a result of the investigations by FIOD and Hoffmann, four employees have been suspended, one of whom is an assistant manager for the maintenance department. ‘It didn’t spread any further; it’s limited to these four’, says RUG spokesperson Gernant Deekens.

 

The large-scale fraud at the RUG appears to have been a deal between two friends. Read more here..