Dozens of civil servants in charge of assessing the integrity of bar and brothel owners have been threatened or pressured to change their reports, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

Since 2003, special legislation known as Bibob has given civil servants the right to check out the background of people applying for a licence to operate in a number of areas, including the sex and soft drugs industries.
‘This group of civil servants is very vulnerable,’ Utrecht mayor Aleid Wolfsen was quoted as saying at a conference in Ede. ‘We have noticed that owners are getting tougher when permits are refused… we have to take steps to improve their security.’
In addition, all civil servants who deal with Bibob applications should be screened by the security services to make sure they are not open to bribes, Wolfsen said.