Centric management resigns after conflict with owner Sanderink – IT Pro – News

The entire executive board of the Dutch IT company Centric has resigned after a conflict with CEO Gerard Sanderink. The reason would be a crisis of confidence between Sanderink and CEO Johan Taams, the FD reports based on several sources.

According to Het Financieele Dagblad, it concerns a crisis of confidence that arose between Sanderink and Taams after a recent judicial procedure was lost. In it, Sanderink tried through his companies Centric and DSS to seize 1.9 million euros in penalties that Sanderink had to pay Brigitte van Egten. She is Sanderink’s ex-girlfriend. Since Sanderink and ‘cybercharlatan’ Rian van Rijbroek have been in a relationship, Sanderink regularly fights lawsuits with his former girlfriend and business partner.

It was a matter of considerable ear washing by the judge, who spoke of ‘abuse of justice’. The management would then have planned to start a case at the Enterprise Chamber against Sanderink, in order to ‘send him back to his loft’ and with the aim of preventing further reputational damage for Centric. According to FD sources, the Works Council has been informed about this.

This move to the Enterprise Chamber, a specialist business dispute court, was blocked by three non-executive board members who are also members of the board. Two of these board members would be two of Sanderink’s confidants. Then the three executive board members decided to resign. It would be CEO Johan Taams, CFO Patrick Rosengarten and COO Bart Fehmers.

The FD reports that several well-established sources speak independently of a crisis of confidence. “The crisis is thus complete,” says a source about the situation at Centric after the conclusion of the three executive board members that they can no longer continue after the blockade for starting proceedings at the Enterprise Chamber. Taams declined to comment, and neither did the Centric spokesperson. The newspaper also asked Sanderink and his lawyer for comment, but they could not be reached.

Centric announced in April that it wants to recover 60 million euros from Van Egten due to lost turnover that would be the result of the quarrels and public lawsuits between her and Sanderink. For example, De Nederlandse Bank did not extend its contract with Centric.

The fuss surrounding the ICT company arose because of the influence of Rian van Rijbroek, Sanderink’s girlfriend. Van Rijbroek was in the news in 2018 because she was invited as a cyber expert in the TV program Nieuwsuur. She told a muddled story that was debunked by well-known security experts. She also claimed to have been employed by the AIVD, but the NOS said it had information in 2019 that shows that this is not the case. When Sanderink got into a relationship with Van Rijbroek, he severed all ties with Van Egten and accused her of fraud of millions at his solar panel company DSS. Van Egten was previously director there.