In recent years, taxi drivers at Schiphol had to secretly pay thousands of euros in cash to be allowed to drive from the airport. At the same time, the director of the taxi company they paid for was chief agent in Amsterdam. Emeritus professor of integrity Hans van den Heuvel qualifies the taxi system as corrupt.

This is evident from conversations by NRC with more than sixty people involved, half of whom are or were drivers at the airport. Their stories of corrupt taxi transportation are supported by emails, documents and sound recordings.

According to the NRC, the Marechaussee, charged with police duties at Schiphol, is alarmed at the findings and responds:

"We find these signals worrying and take it very seriously. In consultation with the Public Prosecution Service of North Holland, we are looking into whether we can start an exploratory investigation based on this new information. ”

El Bouakili was the main agent in Amsterdam and had hundreds of taxis from TCS and SchipholTaxi driving around. According to sources, he therefore had to resign in mid-2016. A policeman should not have any additional functions in the taxi world.

Taxi system is corrupt

Professor of integrity Hans van den Heuvel responds to nu.nl .

"This current taxi system can be qualified as corrupt," the emeritus said in the newspaper. “There are no clear rules. The law of the strongest prevails ”.

Schiphol himself is responsible for a non-corrupt, sound and honest taxi system, but he also believes that the Ministry of Finance, which is a shareholder, should intervene. Drivers have reported cash payments to the police and the tax authorities several times in recent years, but nothing has happened.

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