The right-wing Liberal party VVD has expelled a senator from the party after she took business magazine Quote to court and lost.

Anne-Wil Duthler started legal action against Quote following its publication of an investigation into her complicated business activities, including the fact that one of her companies was subject to a €900,000 sequestration order.

In the article, Quote described her business practices as ‘shadowy’ and said they revolved around a ‘complicated tangle of 10 limited companies’.

The court ruled on Tuesday that the magazine had done sufficient research and had given Duthler enough opportunities to tell her side of the story.

‘In addition, a public figure should be able to take more criticism than someone without a public role,’ the court said. ‘And the way a senator acts (in and outside the chamber) can have an influence on the way she functions as a public representative.’

Duthler has been a senator for 11 years but is not on the party’s list to remain in the upper house after the June vote.