The justice ministry paid a IT consultant €1.3m for two years’ work, more than three times the official limit, the NRC reported at the weekend.

Jo van den Hanenberg was brought in to solve serious technical issues with the national police force’s computer system, the paper said. It obtained the documents using freedom of information legislation.

The work was so urgent and so important that justice minister Ivo Opstelten agreed to break official guidelines on pay, the NRC said. His contract was originally for six months but extended several times.

However, Opstelten did not request the required clearance from the cabinet for the overpayment. The ministry told the paper this had not been done because the job was not considered to be a ‘top level function’.

A second outside consultant on the same project was paid €400,000 for working from May to December 2012. He was not considered to be doing a ‘top level’ job either.

Both men were also given a company car and driver. Van den Hanenberg’s transport costs amounted to €384,000 over the two years, the paper said.