Today is one of those days, one suspects, when a lack of real news leads to the front pages not seeming to agree on even one major story. This morning's de Volkskrant, however, goes for a sure-fire winner - a case of suspected fraud with a dash of political intrigue. What's more, it appears to be a scoop.

The paper's allegations concern Ton Hooijmaijers, a former deputy in the provincial government of North Holland, who is facing prosecution for fraud. It says he put pressure on local politicians in Muiden, a small town not far from Amsterdam, to give the green light to development company KNSF to build 1,450 homes and offices on a site it owns. Many local residents are against the plans.

The paper also says it has documents and other evidence to show that an old friend and business partner of Mr Hooijmaijers was appointed independent mediator in the dispute between KNSF and Muiden Town Council over the mega-development deal.

Local Labour politicians are pushing for police investigators and provincial experts to include the KNSF development plans in their ongoing probe into local political sleaze. Labour councillor Fred Winnubst says it looks as though Mr Hooijmaijers acted as KNSF boss Rolf Visser's "political adviser" for years whilst in office.

Mr Visser describes the accusation as "absolute rubbish", accusing Labour councillors in Muiden of using the Hooijmaijers investigation to scupper his construction project. "Labour won the local elections on a pledge to scrap the building plans," he argues. "They'll stop at nothing, even though the contracts were signed years ago."

Mentally disabled not allowed to vote
True to character, the Protestant daily Trouw prefers to go for a scandal of a more social kind. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that mentally disabled people who are wards of court should still be able to vote in elections. However, the paper says their voting passes, which are sent by post, are for the most part simply being thrown away by the institutions where they live.

The Dutch Association for Care of the Disabled (VGN) investigated 50 institutional homes and found just 12 residents who had been able to vote in March's local elections. The VGN thinks that, if disabled people cannot decide for themselves whether or not to vote, residential home staff should contact their legal representatives. It can then be decided whether to arrange a proxy vote or to throw the ballots away.

However, the paper points out that there is another problem. Only physically disabled people can actually be helped to vote. It is still illegal for anyone else to be accompanied into the polling booth. The VGN is therefore advising residential home staff to set up practice sessions in the use of ballots and polling booths. No mention is made of the possible impact of these new tasks on the work load of the staff.

Marijuana passes will lead to street dealing
Today's nrc.next comes up with criticism of the idea of introducing passes to allow only local people to buy marijuana from Dutch 'coffeeshops', the outlets which are allowed to sell small amounts of the drug.

Drugs tourism, whereby people from Germany and Belgium nip over the border to buy cannabis from Dutch 'coffeeshops', has been causing increasing problems in towns in the south of the Netherlands over the last few years. The authorities in the southern province of Limburg want to limit the use of the 'coffeeshops' to local people. Residents would be issued with passes, allowing them to use the outlets.

However, the paper says Tilburg University research shows passes would only result in cannabis being sold on the street. In towns where the outlets have been closed down completely, the drugs tourists have kept on coming, says researcher Nicole Maalsté. "Where the coffeeshops have been closed, the trade was immediately taken over by street dealers."

Drivers 'at mercy of police mood'
De Telegraaf supports what could well be a gripe of many of its mass readership. "Car drivers at the mercy of police officer's mood" reads its main headline. The complaint is that officers are increasingly sending driving offenders on expensive courses designed to improve their conduct on the roads.

They can be ordered to attend the courses run by the CBR driving licence authority, at their own expense and during their free time, moans the paper, after as little as two offences. The peccadilloes can include: driving too close, speeding, cutting in, overtaking on the right, going through a red light, using a (non-hands free) mobile phone while behind the wheel, illegal parking and not giving way.

Last year, of the 995 people ordered to attend the courses, 183 eventually lost their driving licences anyway. According to a CBR spokesman they were "people who refused to attend the courses, failed to show up, didn't pay or misbehaved during the lessons". The paper resists the temptation to give examples of such misbehaviour.

Junior loses dad's Bugatti
Finally, this morning's AD stays with driving offences to tell a cautionary tale for all rich boys. Multimillionaire Michel Perridon's 20-year-old son was caught doing 160 kph on an 80-kph road on Monday evening.

Not only did Mr Perridon junior have to surrender his driving licence to police, but they also confiscated his father's exclusive Bugatti Veyron which he was driving. The paper takes pleasure in reminding us that the car costs a cool 1.8 million euros and boasts a top speed of 407 kph. It doesn't say, however, whether the young offender will be ordered to attend a CBR good driving course.