Rutte refuses new inquiry into Lockheed bribery affair

There will be no new inquiry into the precise role played by prince Bernhard in the Lockheed bribery affair, prime minister Mark Rutte told parliament on Monday evening.


The new inquiry was called for by left-wing liberal D66 party leader Alexander Pechtold who wanted a commission of historians set up to bring clarity to the affair after historian Gerard Aalders said Bernhard’s involvement was greater than so far thought.
The German-born Bernhard van Lippe-Biesterfeld has always been a controversial figure in the Netherlands.
The Lockheed scandal, one of several bribery cases he was involved in, nearly led to the abdication of the then queen Juliana when it broke in 1976. Bernhard had to renounce his military functions in exchange for judicial immunity for taking a $1.1m bribe from Lockheed 15 years earlier. He died in 2004.

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