Three Amsterdammers who bought and used false disabled parking cards were sentenced to community service of up to 100 hours and suspended fines from the court on Monday. Two other ‘customers’ were acquitted: the judges did not consider their involvement proven. The officials who made and sold the permits have been sentenced to community service of up to 240 hours and a suspended fine.
The three buyers – two men and a woman – who have been convicted, have been guilty of fraud and forgery, according to the court. With their disabled cards they could park for free anywhere in the city for at least a year, as a result of which the municipality of Amsterdam lost money. According to the judges, the buyers undermined the municipality’s parking policy “in a sophisticated way and therefore had the sole aim of benefiting themselves and making things easy for themselves”.
Parking ticket for 500 to 2,500 euros
The fraud with parking permits came to light in 2017. The two officials, both fired in the meantime, were found to have sold disabled parking cards to seventeen Amsterdam residents who were not disabled. They did this by logging into the municipal systems with colleagues’ data and creating fake permits. They asked between 500 and 2,500 euros for the parking tickets. Last October, five buyers were in court. Seven suspects had settled with the Public Prosecution Service.
Also read: ‘I just thought: chill, now I can park’
The judges are less lenient for the two former civil servants than for the buyers. They charge them “highly” for the fraud and forgery. The suspects “were supposed to behave properly from their position as civil servants with integrity who are committed to the public good”. But the sentences for civil servants are also lower than the requirement of the Public Prosecution Service. They will receive a community service order of 200 and 240 hours respectively, plus a suspended fine of 10,000 euros. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded 240 hours of community service and unconditional fines for both men.
The ‘customers’ who appeared in court in October were mostly in their thirties with a good job or their own company. One of the convicted men owns a wholesaler of healthcare products. The convicted woman works as an influencer, with more than 50,000 followers on Instagram. Among the suspects who have settled with justice are two owners of a company in dance events, who, according to business magazine Quote in 2018 each had an estimated net worth of eight million euros. Some of the suspects knew each other through football association AFC.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/community-service-for-parking-fraud/
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