Only 179 of the country’s 441 local councils bother to check if local business men and women have links with organised crime, Trouw reports on Friday.

Legislation introduced in 2003 allows councils to look into the integrity of people applying for licences to operate a business such as a shop or bar to make sure they are not involved in money laundering or have other criminal connections.
But smaller councils regard the process as too time-consuming and complicated, research by the newspaper and local authority news website Binnenlands Bestuur shows.
Brothels
Since the Bibob laws were introduced, 376 businesses have lost their operating licence because of concerns about their owners criminal connections. The most famous of these is the Amsterdam brothel Yab Yum.
Last year, the Bibob agency made 667 recommendations. In half the cases, it said there was a ‘serious risk’ that the company owner was involved in crime.