Forgery (valsheid in geschrifte) concerns falsely drawing up or falsifying a document intended to serve as evidence of any fact, with the statutorily required intent to use it. Are you suspected of forgery? Keep the complete documents and write down the next deadline. Below you can read which legal questions, documents and next steps require attention. The assessment of your own situation depends on the specific facts and the applicable legal framework.
Nederlands: Lees dit artikel in het Nederlands: Verdacht van valsheid in geschrifte: wat moet het OM bewijzen?
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What does forgery mean in legal terms?
Forgery concerns falsely drawing up or falsifying a document intended to serve as evidence of any fact, with the statutorily required intent to use it.
The legal starting point is Article 225 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht). The precise wording of the charge is important, because a single everyday description can cover several statutory variants. Your lawyer therefore compares the text of the suspicion with the case file and checks whether each element can be supported by lawful and convincing evidence.
An administrative error is not in itself criminal forgery. The case file must support intent, the evidential purpose of the document and the required intent to use it.
What must the Public Prosecution Service prove?
The Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) must produce evidence of which document is allegedly false, which passage is incorrect or was altered, who performed the act and with what intent. A suspicion may be enough to start an investigation, but a conviction requires lawful and convincing evidence of the full charge.
The defence examines, for each item of evidence, what it actually proves. An official police report may contain an observation, a summary of a statement or a conclusion drawn by an officer. Those parts do not automatically carry the same evidential weight. It must also be examined whether exculpatory context is missing.
Where several people are involved, the individual role of each suspect must be established. Contact with a co-suspect, presence at a location or a payment may be relevant, but it does not replace an analysis of intent, knowledge and contribution.
What rights do you have during a police interview?
As a suspect, you have the right to remain silent and the right to consult a lawyer. If you are invited for an interview without being arrested, ask in advance in what capacity you will be questioned and which offence the suspicion relates to. The police do not always provide the complete case file straight away.
Remaining silent is not an automatic strategy for every case. Sometimes an early, verifiable explanation can prevent an incorrect picture from persisting. In other cases, an unprepared statement actually entails risks. Make that choice after discussing the known facts, possible lines of investigation and documents that may support your explanation.
Read the official record of the interview carefully. Ask for a correction if your words have been recorded incorrectly or too emphatically. Do not sign in a hurry. If you have difficulty with the Dutch language, discuss the use of a sworn interpreter in good time.
What evidence should you secure?
In any event, keep original and altered versions, metadata, email correspondence, order confirmations, accounting records and statements about the normal flow of documents. Keep the original files available and make a working copy for your lawyer. Screenshots can be useful, but they often do not show the full conversation, its origin or the metadata.
Draw up a timeline with dates, people and events. Separate what you observed yourself from what others told you. Write down possible witnesses with a short explanation of what they themselves observed. Do not approach them to align statements.
Do not delete or alter any data. Information that seems unfavourable at first sight may also be needed to understand the context. Report possible camera footage or other temporarily available sources quickly, so that your lawyer can assess whether securing them or further investigation is needed.
Which document and which passage are meant?
An accusation of forgery must be narrowed down to specific documents and acts. Ask which file or paper document is meant, which passage is incorrect according to the investigation and who allegedly drafted or altered that passage. A general reproach that “the accounts do not add up” is insufficient as a starting point for targeted preparation.
Draw up a list of documents with the file name, date, version, sender, recipient and purpose. Note whether it is a draft, a final version, a signed copy or a copy made later. Keep those documents separate. Otherwise, if different versions have the same name, it may become unclear which version was actually sent or used.
The evidential purpose of the document also deserves attention. A document may be intended, for example, to demonstrate income, work performed, payment or an agreement. The defence examines what significance the document had in the specific situation. Not every inaccurate note is therefore automatically a criminally forged piece of evidence.
Drawing up, altering and using are different questions
The person who creates a document need not be the same as the person who submits it. An existing document may also be altered later. Article 225 of the Dutch Criminal Code covers different types of conduct and requirements. Therefore have it established exactly which variant you are accused of, and prevent everyone involved from being treated as a single undifferentiated group.
Describe who supplied information, who entered it, who checked it and who pressed send. Keep order confirmations and correction requests. An email with an attachment does not always show who originally drafted the content. Conversely, the absence of your own signature does not automatically rule out involvement. The entire flow of documents may be relevant.
If an accountant, intermediary or employee was involved, that does not automatically shift responsibility. Discuss what you knew yourself, what instructions you gave and what checks took place. “The bookkeeper did everything” is less informative than an overview of specific tasks, access and communication. Also give your lawyer messages in which an error was pointed out to you.
Correcting an error without altering the evidence
Administrative errors can occur. The question is what significance the error has and whether the statutory requirements of the criminal offence are proven. Therefore keep the original version, even if a correction is needed. A document corrected later must remain recognisable as a new version, with a correct date and a clear explanation of the change.
Do not erase earlier files or emails to make the accounts “tidy”. Doing so may cause the very information to disappear that shows how the error arose and when it was discovered. First discuss with your lawyer which correction must be made, to whom and with what explanation. A necessary administrative correction and a statement in a criminal case are different steps.
Metadata can help with the reconstruction, but also have limitations. Copying, exporting and saving can change dates or author fields. A visible file date is therefore not always the same as the original moment of creation. Note how a file was obtained and stored, and have technical examination assess it where the case requires.
Invoices, employer’s statements and digital forms
With an invoice, questions may arise about the service provided, the description, the amount or the parties named. Collect the underlying order, delivery and payment. The defence must be able to explain which actual event lies behind the administrative entry. A payment does not in itself prove that every invoice description is correct.
With an employer’s statement or other income document, what matters is which details were correct on the relevant date, who was authorised to issue the document and what it was used for. Keep payslips, employment arrangements and correspondence about the application. Do not create a new statement with a past date to replace a missing document.
With a digital form, the focus may be on the account, the fields completed, attachments and confirmations. Keep the version that was actually submitted. A blank form viewed later does not always show which questions were asked at the time. Also have it examined whether explanatory notes, follow-up questions or automatic completion influenced the answer that ended up in the case file.
Authority and document versions within an organisation
With a document from a company or institution, several people may have worked on the same version. Map out the flow of documents: who supplied data, who prepared the draft, who checked it, who signed it and who sent it? The aim is to reconstruct the actual acts, not to shift responsibility to a colleague in advance.
Keep existing instructions and arrangements on authority. A job title may say something about the usual role, but does not on its own show who made a specific change. Also indicate whether accounts were shared or whether someone was standing in for another. Your lawyer can assess which digital data are needed to link an act to a person and a point in time.
Check whether the version in the case file matches the version you saw at the time. A printed copy may differ from the original file or from a version sent later. Record such differences precisely and keep the original. Do not add comments in the evidence file itself; prepare a separate explanatory note with references to pages or fields.
It must also become clear what the document was used for. An internal draft, an application to an authority and a final piece of evidence may raise different questions. In the case of a broader financial accusation, see the information on fraud and deception. For documents relating to benefits, the interplay between recovery, an administrative fine and a criminal case may be relevant. An error in a document and a financial consequence must each be examined carefully; one does not automatically prove all the conditions of the other.
What steps can you take now?
Work in a fixed order, so that deadlines and evidence are not lost.
1. Keep the letter, summons or punishment order and write down every date. 2. Request the case file or the available details of the suspicion through your lawyer. 3. Collect original data and draw up a factual timeline. 4. Discuss your stance in the proceedings before the interview. 5. After each decision, check the correct legal remedy and the deadline. 6. Coordinate parallel procedures with your employer, bank, municipality or CBR.
A request for contact sent to a lawyer does not in itself safeguard a deadline. A short statutory deadline may apply to a punishment order, judgment or measure. Therefore send the complete decision and state when you received it.
Contact us for an assessment of the next step.
What outcomes are possible?
An investigation may end with a dismissal (the Public Prosecution Service drops the case), a punishment order, a summons or another decision by the Public Prosecution Service. Before the court, possible outcomes include acquittal, discharge from all further prosecution and conviction. Which route applies depends on the evidence, the legal classification and the circumstances.
A statutory maximum penalty does not predict the actual sentence. The court looks at the proven offence, its seriousness, consequences, personal circumstances and relevant records. Compensation, seizure, a contact condition or a measure may also be at issue.
Do not automatically accept or pay a punishment order if you wish to contest the finding of guilt. Have the consequences and the deadline for lodging an objection checked immediately. Even a relatively limited disposal may matter for your criminal record and a later assessment for a certificate of conduct (VOG).
Which mistakes are often made?
Many suspects try to explain everything by telephone straight away without knowing the case file. A second mistake is deleting relevant messages out of shame or fear. Contacting a complainant or witness yourself can also be misinterpreted or breach a prohibition.
Other risks are: keeping only a few screenshots, waiting for a deadline to pass because the letter is unclear, treating a punishment order as an ordinary fine and withholding information from your own lawyer. A defence becomes stronger with complete, verifiable information.
Do not publish a detailed response on social media. A public defence rarely takes account of the rules of evidence, privacy and the as yet unknown content of the case file. Discuss consequences for your reputation or work through a separate, coordinated route.
How does Arslan Advocaten handle this type of case?
Arslan Advocaten handles criminal cases from the interview stage up to and including the hearing and any legal remedy. The lawyer starts with the procedural documents, deadlines and the next decision point. After that, the evidence, legal classification and personal consequences are assessed separately.
In practice, difficulties often arise because a client is involved in several procedures at the same time. Think of a bank account block, a dismissal issue, a closure decision or a VOG problem alongside the criminal case. We map out those lines first, so that a response in one file does not unintentionally harm your position in another.
Frequently asked questions about forgery
Is an administrative error automatically forgery?
No. The applicable statutory elements, including the required intent and the intent to use in the variant alleged, must be examined. The nature of the error, the evidential purpose and the flow of documents are important. Keep both the original and the corrected versions.
Can I be suspected in connection with a document that someone else made?
Yes, for example if use or some form of involvement is alleged. That does not mean that guilt has been established. Have it determined who made the document, who submitted it and what each person knew. Drawing up and using must be analysed separately.
May I still correct an incorrect invoice?
A correction may be necessary, but it must be made carefully and verifiably. Keep the original version and do not make a silent change with an old date. If an investigation is ongoing, first discuss which corrective action and explanation are appropriate.
Does my signature prove that I knew everything?
A signature may be relevant, but it must be assessed together with the other circumstances. What was in the signed version, what information were you given and what was your role? Also have any dispute about authenticity investigated promptly and specifically.
Are digital documents also relevant?
Yes, digital documents can have an evidential function and be the subject of a suspicion. Keep original files, versions and sending data. A screenshot may not show enough about the origin, changes or the precise version a recipient received.
Which documents help at a first meeting?
Bring the summons and an overview of the disputed documents. Collect original versions, emails, orders and underlying transactions. State which files are missing and who may have them. Share sensitive accounting records through the agreed secure route.
Having your case assessed
Have you received a summons to appear, a punishment order or a summons to court? You can request an assessment via the contact form. State the next date and only share sensitive documents through the agreed secure route.
When is a prompt legal assessment advisable?
In cases of forgery, the next step must be tailored to the specific procedure. Therefore have the available documents, the deadline and the purpose of a response assessed together. A lawyer can check what information is missing, whether further investigation is needed and which authority decides on your request. This makes clear what you can collect yourself and which formal step must be taken in time.
Prompt assistance is particularly advisable when an interview, punishment order, summons, seizure or measure has already been announced. Note the date of receipt, keep envelopes and digital messages and send the complete decision. Also discuss consequences for work, a licence, residence status, insurance, the banking relationship or a VOG. These side effects sometimes require a separate response with its own deadline. A specific assessment always depends on the case file; general information is no substitute for personal legal advice.
Sources
- Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht)
- Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure (Wetboek van Strafvordering)
- The Dutch judiciary on criminal law
- Public Prosecution Service, legal basis and prosecution guideline
Editorial team and responsible lawyer
Editorial team: Arslan Advocaten. Responsible lawyer for criminal law: Melanie Schulpen.
Last editorially updated: 22 September 2026. This general information is no substitute for an assessment of your own case file.
