Gerard Sanderink has been suspended as director of IT company Centric
The Enterprise Chamber has suspended Gerard Sanderink as director of Centric. Instead of Sanderink, two new directors are appointed at the IT company. It is not yet known who will be the new directors of Centric.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) went to the Enterprise Chamber in October for an investigation into Sanderink. Centric had then appointed the CEO as a non-executive director, which, according to the Public Prosecution Service, would lead to additional unrest within the company. Centric was given until Monday 24 October to reverse Sanderink’s appointment. When that did not happen, the Public Prosecution Service went to the Enterprise Chamber.
Now the Public Prosecution Service has been proven right. The Enterprise Chamber believes that Sanderink as CEO ‘endangers the survival of Centric’. In addition to the suspension of Sanderink, the Public Prosecution Service has demanded that he transfer all his shares in Centric to a third party. The Enterprise Chamber has granted that requirement, writing among other things: RTL News and the NOS. Sanderink and his girlfriend Rian van Rijbroek were present at the verdict. They have not yet responded to the press.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, it has been restless within the Centric board for some time. For example, it points to ‘every time departing drivers’. “The company was also involved in several civil proceedings concerning a private matter of Mr. Sanderink”, said the agency last month. The Public Prosecution Service refers to the ongoing conflict between Sanderink and his ex-girlfriend and business partner Brigitte van Egten. Sanderink has had a relationship with Rian van Rijbroek for several years now. Van Rijbroek was in the news in 2018 after she was invited as a cybersecurity expert to Nieuwsuur and told a muddled, incorrect story. When Sanderink got into a relationship with Van Rijbroek, he broke his ties with Van Egten.
The conflict between Sanderink and Van Egten played a part in the decision of the Enterprise Chamber, which has doubts ‘whether Sanderink can still make rational decisions and is suitable to lead Centric’. “Sanderink cannot separate his personal feud with his ex-girlfriend from the interest of the company”.
The entire executive board of Centric also wanted to go to the Enterprise Chamber earlier this year because of all the unrest, but this was blocked by non-executive board members. That is why the three executive board members resigned in June.