Hans van de Ven
Hans van de Ven (soldier, Spook) | |
---|---|
Born | 1953 Netherlands |
Died | 2021 (Age 68) Amstelveen, Netherlands |
Residence | Amstelveen, Netherlands |
Nationality | Dutch |
Exposed | Maximator-Alliance |
Victim of | Premature death |
Interests | • MiVD • SIGINT |
Hans van de Ven was a former Dutch spook working for the military intelligence service MiVD. Van de Ven was the Chief SIGINT of the MiVD in the 1990s. Van de Ven was found death in his home in 2021 in the presence of a known criminal, ruled a natural death. In 2022, the Dutch police reopened his case, suspecting foul play.[1][2]
Career
From the 90s until around 9/11, Van de Ven was head of signal analysis at the MIVD's SIGINT division. He left after a conflict and was subsequently unable to obtain freelance work abroad from sister services and specialist telecom companies. According to newspaper AD, he was nearly bankrupt.[3]
Maximator
In 2020 Van de Ven exposed the Maximator-Alliance, a secret alliance for cooperation in the fields of signals intelligence and crypto analysis, cracking telephones, intercepting communication and implementing spyware with multiple European countries & Israel. After the leak, it was reported by The Economist[4], The Register[5] and the Dutch NPO.
Being named "the number one suspect of the MIVD regarding leaking classified files", Dutch newspaper AD mentioned that there were "sources confirming people were not happy with Van de Ven's leaks".[6]
Death
Van de Ven was found dead in his bathtub in 2021 in a suburb of Amsterdam. Although former female tax specialist being sought for fraud named Annique Botermans[7] tipped off and guided the police to his body, it was named a "natural death". Botermans and Van de Ven had set up companies in cancer prevention and lab research. Van de Ven's owned those companies because Botermans was sought for a million dollar scam setting up non-existent banks in San Marino. Botermans already was suspected in the murder of a former business partner in 2017. Botermans was found to had written a note on the day of his death reading "the black day of Hans" in her agenda. The police opened a murder investigation into his death.
Investigation
The Dutch national police and the MIVD refused to answer questions why the original police investigation was called off and why there was no police report made up regarding a burglary into his home after his death, only confirming the family, friends, investigate journalists from the AD kept not accepting the natural death reasoning. Botermans refused to comment regarding the reopened case, and repeated her claim Van de Ven died in an instant.[8][9]
Documents missing
In 2023 the police was revealed to have ruled the death a "natural" one. This was after the police was admitting to have deleted all pictures (another case of missing documents) of Van de Ven's body at the scene - because of the immediate "natural cause" ruling - even though the secret service MIVD had already joined the investigation, prompting a change in national procedure for police investigations. Private investigators were only told of this by a member of the investigating team that requested to remain anonymous.[10]
References
- ↑ https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/02/police-reopen-probe-into-death-of-a-former-security-officer-ad/
- ↑ https://nltimes.nl/2022/01/29/suspicious-death-dutch-secret-service-agent-reexamined
- ↑ https://www.crimesite.nl/politie-heropent-onderzoek-naar-overlijden-oud-medewerker-inlichtingendienst/
- ↑ https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/05/28/a-beery-european-spy-club-is-revealed
- ↑ https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/18/maximator_euro_spy_alliance_falklands_war/
- ↑ https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/oud-medewerker-geheime-dienst-werd-dood-in-bad-aangetroffen-kan-geen-zuivere-koffie-zijn~a315eeee7/
- ↑ https://www.crimesite.nl/politie-heropent-onderzoek-naar-overlijden-oud-medewerker-inlichtingendienst/
- ↑ https://www.tubantia.nl/binnenland/oud-medewerker-geheime-dienst-werd-dood-in-bad-aangetroffen-kan-geen-zuivere-koffie-zijn~a315eeee7/
- ↑ https://www.crimesite.nl/politie-heropent-onderzoek-naar-overlijden-oud-medewerker-inlichtingendienst/
- ↑ https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/oud-mivder-die-dood-in-bad-werd-gevonden-stierf-natuurlijke-dood~ac34cdb9/