Transparency on the passport professor

The Independent Student calls for the Board of the University of Groningen to be more transparent in the case of professor Kochenov, who is suspected to be involved in the trade of EU-passports. Minister of Education Ingrid van Engelshoven (D66) promised the Dutch Parliament the report of the investigation would be published in the first quarter of 2020. That hasn’t happened yet.

The Independent Student asked the Board of the University when this research is planned to be published. However, president of the University Jouke de Vries could not provide a satisfying answer. The report would be published ‘when the time is there’ and De Vries expects the report not to be fully published because of the privacy of mr. Kochenov.

Party Leader Dylan Gerding questions the attitude of the Board: “This is a high profile case regarding a professor from the UG who is allegedly involved in the trade of EU-passports. The Dutch cabinet called this undesireable and the Dutch Intelligence Service calls it a threat to national security. It seems like the Board is trying to cover up for Kochenov, by delaying the publication of the report. Academic values such as transparency and independency are at stake.”

Since the Board of the University does not want to share the report with the university council, and it seems the question if it is going to be published at all, The Independent Student has filed a request to a preliminary publishing using the Dutch Freedom of Information Act.