Hossen Sohel of DOT
The Netherlands on Thursday launched an investigation into claims that government officials were involved in illegal adoptions from Brazil and other countries for three decades, reports AFP.
The probe will start with Brazil and then move on to Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, covering the period from 1967 to 1998, legal protection minister Sander Dekker said.
The inquiry will also examine whether there was an official attempt to keep the involvement of Dutch officials outside the police investigation, Dekker said.
After examining the Brazilian cases, the inquiry will look into countries were there were “signs of possible abuses in the past”, namely Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he added.
The investigation was sparked by a freedom of information request about one adoption case from Brazil, which then raised questions about a number of others.