Shareholders lobby group VEB has started legal proceedings at the company court in Amsterdam to press for an investigation into the bankruptcy of 117-year-old trading house Van der Moolen.

The VEB made the announcement at a meeting of Van der Moolen shareholders on Friday. ‘We have heard a long list of facts and other factors which point towards mismanagement,’ VEB economists David Tomic was quoted as saying by the NRC. ‘Few cases are so clear cut.’
The company closed its doors a month ago.
Supervisory board member Peter Zwart told the meeting company policy had drifted in recent years. ‘Dozens of initiatives have been started, all of which cost money,’ Zwart said. He also said the arrival of new chairman Richard den Drijver in 2005 was the start of the company’s decline.
Den Drijver stood down in July but remained on the company’s books at the same salary as an advisor.