The disciplinary judge has accused three notaries of the well-known notary and law firm Pels Rijcken of negligence, carelessness and insufficient control over the fraudulent actions of former CEO Frank Oranje. While notaries were not involved in fraud, they broke professional rules that required close investigation and auditing.
It came to light that Frank Oranje, chairman of the board of Pels Rijcken, played with all kinds of foundations and names for years and embezzled a total of 11 million euros. He committed suicide in November 2020 after being suspended from a criminal fraud investigation. A post-mortem investigation turned out to be a multimillion-dollar scam that no one knew about or was involved in.
More cheeky than shiny
During the processing of the disciplinary file, the notaries discovered that the checks and blocked accounts that Orange printed and sent at its own discretion had not been checked and that Orange had made changes to the statute of incorporation. During the hearing, two notaries explained the lack of oversight, citing the CEO’s reputation, integrity and corruption.
But Orange’s mandate as a seasoned civil-law notary and chairman of the board does not mean that it can run its company unchecked, according to the disciplinary judge. “There was no sophisticated malpractice, his actions were more brutal than clever.”
According to the disciplinary committee, the negligence is so serious that the suspension is justified. But the notaries were not involved in the fraud, and the reputational damage of the notary was not caused by the negligence of the notaries, but by the fraud of Orange.
In addition, two civil-law notaries have requested early termination, as a result of which the suspension is also not favorable.
Source: NOS
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