PM, Irene to testify in royal row
14 March 2003
AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Royal crisis continued unabated on Friday with the news the Prime Minister and half the Royal Family are to be called to testify in the ever-increasing number of legal actions emerging from Margarita-gate.
Lawyer Peter Nicolai said his clients, Princess Margarita and her husband Edwin de Roy van Zuydewijn, would call Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende first in witness hearings about the background check the national security service AIVD carried out into Edwin's past.
Princess Margarita, a niece of Queen Beatrix, and Edwin plan a EUR 35 million law suit against the Royal Family for allegedly running a smear campaign against Edwin.
They are also lodging a criminal complaint against former Prime Minister Wim Kok, two other ex-ministers and the AIVD for allegedly lying and violating the couple's privacy.
Speaking on television programme Barend en Van Dorp on Thursday night, Nicolai did concede his client will apologise to the head of the national information service RVD, Eef Brouwers, for suggesting he used a tiny microphone disguised as a screw to tape a meeting with her.
Nicolai said while he was not saying the meeting was not bugged, other agencies and not Brouwers would have been responsible if this had happened. And he claimed to have evidence that confirms the couple were spied on by state agencies.
Rotterdam-based newspaper Algemeen Dagblad added to the royal headache when it reported on Friday morning that Margarita's mother and the Queen's sister, Princess Irene, would be called as a witness in the case against the Royal family.
Other potential witnesses, the paper said, would include Margarita's father, Carlos Hugo; her brothers, Carlos and Jaime, and her sister, Carolina.
The newspaper said it based its story on official correspondence between lawyers.
Article From: Expactica.com