National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

not planning to commit the violations, but were confronted with setbacks
during the remediation, perhaps because the survey was not extensive enough,
because they were unable to perform the remediation properly, because they
were put under pressure by the customer or because they did not have enough
time or money to do the job properly. This group of offenders includes
employees of municipal authorities that try to save money for the community.
Municipalities often have a limited budget for soil remediation. In some cases
the offenders in this category are not sufficiently aware of laws and regulations,
and the illegal activities can be attributed to incompetence.
The latter group commits crimes of an organised nature. They make as much use
as possible of the opportunities for committing crimes and make as much money
as possible from those crimes. One example involved a company that acted
illegally during a soil remediation operation and made a profit of 750,000 euros.
The fine imposed afterwards was (a mere) 15,000 euros.
A company supplied contaminated soil to a soil cleaning company.
This company paid between 30 and 40 euros per cubic metre for the heavily
contaminated soil to be processed. The soil processing company sold the soil
(without cleaning it) to another company via contacts with a former employee.
The company purchasing the soil was compensated for accepting the
contaminated soil, which generated an unlawful profit of 150,000 euros.
This allowed the soil cleaning company to save 35 euros per cubic metre.
The unlawfully obtained profit made by the soil cleaning company was
estimated at 400,000 euros. Investigations also revealed that incorrect permits
were used and that the supervisor must have been aware of the illegal
activities. The company intimidated the municipal supervisor to ensure that
he took no action.
3.4.5 Consequences for Dutch society
Soil remediation crime harms the living environment and may have a direct
effect on public health. However, the risk to public health differs depending
on the substance, the period of exposure and individual physical characteristics,
which means that exact figures about the damage to public health in the
Netherlands caused by soil remediation crime cannot be established. The value
of a house can drop sharply if it is found to be built on contaminated land.
This can lead to social unrest. Another effect is a loss of trust in the government,
as the government is responsible for the issuing of permits, as well as for
enforcement and supervision. By not following the rules a number of companies
are able to work more cheaply than their competitors, which constitutes unfair
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