Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende has asked the public prosecution department to begin an investigation into the leaking of cabinet meeting minutes, Nos tv said on Wednesday.

On Monday RTL news quoted from confidential minutes which showed there are divisions in the cabinet about plans to flood an area of reclaimed land near Antwerp.
Leaking cabinet documents is a crime and can be punished by a jail term.
Meanwhile, parliament has launched its own investigation into the leak of documents relating to the government’s spending plans, which were issued to MPs under strict conditions several days before their formal publication on September 15.
Labour MP Paul Tang has already admitted leaking the latest macro-economic forecasts to broadcaster RTL.
But parliamentary chairwoman Gerdi Verbeek said she had the strong impression Tang was not the only person to leak confidential budget details. Nos tv and the Volkskrant newspaper also claimed to have exclusive access to budget documents.