Patricia Remak

Remak studied tax law at Leiden University. Before she became an MP, she was a ward alderman in the ward Amsterdam south east. Her portfolio contained welfare, sport and finances. In the House of Representatives, her portfolio included finances (taxes), development aid and state expenditure. When she left the House of Representatives, Remak joined the VVD group in the States-Provincial of the province of North Holland in 2003. In June 2005 she left the VVD group, after major political differences' and continued as an independent member of the States-Provincial.

Remak was convicted of benefit fraud in January 2007. She received benefits (wachtgeld) from her former job as MP, although she was not entitled to do so since she had a substantial income from her work as a member of States-Provincial and tax inspector. She failed to inform the UWV (the government body responsible for benefits) about her income, as is required by law. Some days before this conviction became public, she resigned as member of States-Provincial. Remak was first convicted to 1 year imprisonment (3 months on probation). She appealed the ruling. One year later, the Amsterdam court convicted Remak to 6 months imprisonment (3 months on probation) and 240 hours of community service in January 2008.

The province of North Holland launched an investigation into her period as member of States-Provincial and filed a complaint for fraud and forgery. These allegations were connected to payments of almost 28,000 euro to a party assistant who also worked for her husband's company.

Wikipedia

In June 2008 Remak demanded that the Dutch-language version of Wikipedia (and the blog GeenStijl.nl) remove the information on her conviction for fraud. She based her demand on Dutch privacy law. Wikipedia initially complied with her wishes; the information was restored in June 2008 on legal advice.