On 23 August 2003 the journalists Peter Siebelt and Martijn Koolhoven suggested in the Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf, under the headline "SP'er betaalde taartactie tegen Pim" ("SP member paid for pie demonstration against Pim") that Van Heijningen had financed the bombardment with pies of Pim Fortuyn on 14 March 2002, about a month and a half before the populist right-wing leader was murdered. As coordinator of XminY he would have been responsible for paying a subsidy of €450 to a Give-away shop in Hoenderloo. Later, two people who worked for the organisation which ran the shop were arrested in connection with the "pie-ing" of Fortuyn. In December 2003, following a complaint from Van Heijningen, the Raad voor de Journalistiek (Journalism Council), the body responsible for upholding journalistic standards in the Netherlands, issued the following ruling: 'This report represents such a stain on the (character of) the complainants (Van Heijningen and the SP - ed.) that it should not have been published without a proper factual basis. Since any such basis is lacking, the defendants have, with the publication of this headline, overstepped the bounds.’ De Telegraaf ignored requests for rectification.