the failed purchase of six Dutch frigates (amounting to 1.2 billion euros) by the United Arab Emirates. As chairman of a consortium of Holland Signaal, Ballast Nedam and Koninklijke Schelde (supported by the navy, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs), Kroes attempted to exchange the frigates for oil supplies. When it turned out that she was also using her chairmanship to serve the business interests of a personal friend, the businessman Joop van Caldenborgh, she was removed from her position by the government. It was only in 2011 that it became known that she had also put Prince Bernhard forward as a lobbyist in this deal, in violation of the agreements that Bernhard had made with the Den Uyl cabinet after the Lockheed affair. The frigate affair brought Kroes into contact with Jordanian investor Amin Badr-El-Din, with whom she would run the company Mint Holdings some years later, which was planning to take over part of Enron. In 2016, leaks to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (who also oversaw the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers leaks) revealed that from 2001 to 2009 Kroes was the director of Mint Holdings, a company registered in the Bahamas. As part of the EU rules, a commissioner is obliged to declare previous and current economic interests, but she did not declare her directorship of the Bahamas company. Further, EU commissioners are not allowed to hold outside directorships while in office (Kroes was in office 2004–2014). According to her lawyer, Kroes acknowledged the situation, calling it an "oversight", and declared that she would take full responsibility. The “Uber files”, leaked documents in 2022, revealing active and irregular efforts of Uber in lobbying regulators, revealed that Kroes prepared her appointment at the taxi company when she was still in office. She did not disclose the numerous appointments she had with firms executives when European Commissioner for competition and then new technologies (a position she held until November 2014). After resigning from the European Commission, she actively helped Uber bending regulations by opening her contacts to the company, including Netherlands then Prime Minister Mark Rutte, breaking her 18-months duty of réserve that ex commissionner must apply. She finally joins Uber Public Affairs team in 2016. Personal life Kroes was married to social democratic minister and mayor Bram Peper. She is a confidant of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, known for her criticism