Housing corporation bosses have pocked €30m: Volkskrant

A number of senior executives at Holland’s housing corporations have pocketed almost €30m over the past six years, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

The paper bases its claims on an analysis of ongoing legal cases and damages claims.
On Thursday, for example, a court in Utrecht will decide whether a former director of the SGBB corporation should be jailed for 4.5 years for embezzlement.
Another corporation, WSG, is claiming damages from a former director while the giant Rochdale housing corporation wants €6m back from its former boss.
Supervision
Experts told the paper a breakdown in supervision is a main reason for the number of embezzlement cases.
‘In a market where rental prices are rising, the money just flows in,’ Ton Lensen, who works as an interim regulator in the sector, told the paper. ‘There was no need to keep an eye on costs and sometimes people got ideas above their station.’
Meanwhile, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday the tax office has identified 35 property transactions involving housing corporations where there is a possibility of tax avoidance.
In total, officials are looking into 200 transactions involving 70 corporations.
The Netherlands has some 400 housing corporations which rent out, maintain and manage 2.4 million homes – around one third of the national housing stock.