Since the closure of the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum (ATM) in Nov. 2012 the tattoo community, along with fans and followers of the museum have had many questions about its untimely closure.
Today the intention is to shed some light on this subject by presenting *bankruptcy documents levied against the museum’s main financer and location provider Mrs. Mary Jeannette Leonora Seret, and her private company by the name of Partners at Work BV…
*1.7 Cause of bankruptcy
The bankrupt company is engaged in the reintegration of long-term unemployed people and people who have trouble finding labor. The orders were to do so – after tender – awarded by the municipalities or social services.
At one point, a partnership was established between Mr. Henk Schiffmacher or the foundation Amsterdam Tattoo Museum and the bankrupt company. Mr. Schiffmacher, known tattoo artist, had the desire for its collection accessible to a wide audience in a museum and for the bankrupt company was ‘ideal’ means to place multiple people from the reintegration purposes to work in this museum.
Henk Schiffmacher and Seret agreed the Schiffmacher collection would be housed at the Plantage Middenlaan 62 location. In conjunction with this agreement Seret and her Partners at Work BV company had an agreement with the Dutch government to provide employees for museum, under which its main function was to give employment to reformed criminals and “underprivileged” individuals… Due to the nature of the Seret’s company she received financial backing from the local government.
Based on this agreement, Partners at Work BV claimed to invest 1 million Euros in the ATM…
*Housing was sought and found in the building currently in use at the Plantage Middenlaan 60-62 in Amsterdam.
It was intended that the activities of the museum would be housed in the foundation Amsterdam Tattoo Museum, which foundation is actually established and as such has a board. The intention was that Schiffmacher formally would lend the collection to the foundation and the bankrupt company would provide the staff for the museum. A contract as referred to above, however, was never actualized. Partly this and because of a number of other different reasons the collaboration between the parties was terminated. Until present, the operation of the museum was under the control of the bankrupt company. In 2011, an amount of approximately €1,000,000, – are claimed to be invested in the museum.
After the cooperation between the parties was terminated on October 1, 2012, Mr. Schiffmacher claimed his collection.
All in all this was the end of 2012 it clear that, in view of the above circumstances and financial position of the bankrupt company remained nothing more than to make a declaration of bankruptcy.
However, because Partners at Work BV and Seret failed to uphold their end of the agreement with the Dutch government, officials began to investigate. They found that Seret had mishandled staffing, misappropriated funds and failed to file proper tax statements.
*7.5 Mismanagement
Given the frequency of not timely filing of the annual financial statements , together with the severity of the time scale – see above 7.2 – is based on the provisions of Art . 2:248 paragraph 2 BW been an improper performance of duties by the board and is suspected improper performance of duties is an important cause of the bankruptcy. The trustee is considering next steps.
The first focus is to now assumed to continue the operation and sale of the assets. The trustee will also put the maladministration identified on the agenda along with the mismanagement of the [Partners at Work BV] board.
Seret then tried to use the ATM and Schiffmacher’s collection to pay off the government and avoid bankruptcy. In the pursuit of these wrongful intentions the museum had to be closed, and the collection was reclaimed by the ATM board and Schiffmacher in April 2013.
The legal documents contained herein are the bankruptcy papers filed against Seret and her Partners at Work BV company by the Dutch law firm of De Haan Advocaten & Notarissen.
It is clear to note that Partners at Work BV and Seret had nothing to do with the ATM except to provide location and staff for the museum. In the end they did neither…
Plans have been in motion since the recovery of the collection to re-open the museum in a new location in Amsterdam. The official ruling on the new location will be decided on Dec. 1st, 2013.
Henk Schiffmacher adds: “Seret has been removed from the Wall of Fame into the Wall of Shame after she stole her own plate (made by Gerard Born). The foundation is considering actions against this con artist, but we first want to see the actions of the official institutions.”
Original bankruptcy documents can be found at the De Haan Advocaten & Notarissen website.
*Dutch translation of above bankruptcy document excerpts by Annemarie Beers.
PDF in English translated directly from Google Translate.
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