Two former Heerlen municipality officials are in court this week on suspicion of, among other things, official corruption. It was an incorruptible Heerlen scaffolder who reported their allegedly unbecoming proposals to the municipality and was employed by the justice system as a "civilian pseudo-service provider.

He had never experienced it before, nor has it occurred since. It was in May 2016 that civil servant Tom P., now 33 and at the time working for the Management and Maintenance Department in Heerlen, first reported to the scaffolder asking if the entrepreneur wanted to make some quick money. Then he had to send a fake invoice of 15,000 euros to the municipality. "I would get a portion of the proceeds," says the 59-year-old entrepreneur, whose neck hairs stood up straight that day in May.

"I want to earn my money honestly. I can take this very badly: this man is misusing community money. Such a young guy too. I don't participate in that. If you do, you are simply a criminal among criminals. In my opinion, honesty lasts the longest." The entrepreneur, who does not want his name in the newspaper, did not hesitate for a moment and went to the municipality. Not much later, he sat as a witness at the table of the National Criminal Investigation Department. Which also made him an uncommon request: if he wanted to play the game?

He did, and he was consequently given a leading role in the Guardea criminal investigation. Heerlen also played along and paid several bogus invoices. That play led in November 2016 to the arrest of P. - by then no longer a civil servant - and his former colleague Karel M. (46). The latter allegedly turned out to be P.'s accomplice at a later stage.

According to M.'s lawyer Serge Weening, his client is going to testify in court in any case.

A total of five suspects are on trial. Besides the two officials, who are suspected of having defrauded the municipality of tens of thousands of euros, they are an employee of another company who is also alleged to have been involved in the fake invoices and two people who are alleged to have helped P. forge rental contracts.

Duty

Meanwhile, the scaffolder considers it the most natural thing in the world that he helped Heerlen and the justice system. "I did my duty as a citizen. This rotten apple had to come out of the basket. I feel good about it. I have my heart in the right place; can look myself straight in the eye. I pay my bills neatly. This company has been around for years. I will never rip off a customer. Everyone works hard for their pennies. Honesty is very important to me."

He and his company are doing well, the scaffolder lets us know. After his role in the "citizen pseudo-services" - a rarely used investigative method, in which a citizen helps justice by engaging with suspects without provoking anything - little has changed. Whereas many whistleblowers later become inconvenienced precisely because they exposed wrongdoing, this scaffolder's situation is stable, he says: his firm has no more, but also no fewer assignments.

What does sting him a tiny bit is that no thank-you could come off. "No bouquet of flowers, no flan. Not even a pat on the back. Not that I did it for that, mind you. This was nothing more than my civic duty."

Punished

Incidentally, the Public Prosecutor's Office informed this man, without whom this investigation would never have gotten rolling, only at the last minute that the case will finally be heard at the Maastricht District Court this week. He will not attend the hearing: "The only thing that interests me is the outcome. I hope they are punished."

The defendant(s) in this case are assisted by: