October 03, 2017 - 6:33 AM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A former spokesman for Geert Wilders has been convicted of buying cocaine, alcohol and clothes and funding personal travel with money embezzled from the Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker's party.
A court in the southern city of Maastricht said Tuesday that a former provincial lawmaker with Wilders' Party for Freedom used credit and debit cards to spend some 177,000 euros ($208,000) of the party's funds and attempting to fraudulently cover up his personal spending spree.
The court did not name the suspect in line with privacy rules, but identified him as Wilders' former spokesman.
According to the written judgment, he blamed his actions on the high pressure of his work. He was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment.
Dutch media have widely reported him to be Wilders' ex-spokesman, Michael Heemels.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017