Public Prosecution Service prosecutes ex-committee member Ruben Schilt for leaking Chemours documents

Ex-committee member Ruben Schilt from Dordrecht must appear in court, the Public Prosecution Service announced on Tuesday. He is said to have violated the duty of confidentiality by leaking the minutes of a closed council meeting to the press, while “political decision-making still had to follow.” It is not yet clear when the hearing will take place.

Schilt served on the Dordrecht council committee on behalf of the PvdA in 2022 and 2023. In a closed meeting he was told that the chemical company Chemours had made a settlement proposal of millions of euros to the municipalities of Dordrecht, Molenlanden, Papendrecht and Sliedrecht. The municipalities had an ongoing lawsuit over Chemours’ liability for soil and water pollution in the area around the factory. Schilt decided in April last year to go to the investigative journalism program Zembla with information and documents from that secret meeting.

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When the municipality announced an investigation into the leak, Schilt himself came forward. He was removed from his position. Against the Volkskrant Schilt said in September that he does not regret his decision and that he knows he could potentially get a year in prison for leaking private information. “My conscience is more important.”

It is not yet known when the case will come to trial and it has to do with the completion of an ‘additional investigation’ that Schilt’s lawyer still wants to conduct.

Correction (March 26, 2024): An earlier version of the headline of this article stated that Ruben Schilt was a councilor. He was a committee member. That has been adjusted above.

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