National ombudsman calls the Public Prosecution Service careless in the Van Laarhoven case
De National Ombudsman rules that the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Dutch police acted negligently in the case of John van Laarhoven, who is serving a year-long prison sentence in Thailand.
In 2014, the Public Prosecution Service sent a request for legal assistance to the Thai authorities to perform certain investigative acts for a criminal investigation ongoing in the Netherlands against Van Laarhoven, who was already living in Thailand at the time. Justice in the Netherlands thinks that Van Laarhoven's The Grass Company kept shadow accounts and thus paid at least twenty million euros too little in tax.
Van Laarhoven and his wife were arrested and prosecuted by the Thai judiciary. In 2015, Van Laarhoven was sentenced to 103 years in prison for money laundering in Thailand, which he earned with his four coffee shops (two in Tilburg, two in Den Bosch). His Thai wife Tukta was sentenced to 12 years. Two years later, their sentences were reduced on appeal to 75 years and 7 years and four months. Van Laarhoven has to serve 75 of the 20 years.
National Ombudsman
To persuade the Thai authorities to take action, the liaison officer of the Dutch police decided, after consultation with the public prosecutor involved, to send a letter to the Thai judiciary. In this, according to the ombudsman, they suggested that the Thai should start its own criminal investigation. The Thai wife Tukta, who was mentioned as a witness in the request for legal assistance and against whom no criminal investigation was underway in the Netherlands, was named as a suspect in the letter. Thai authorities subsequently arrested the couple and sentenced the husband and wife to long prison terms.
The couple has turned to the National Ombudsman because they feel they have been seriously wronged by the actions of the Dutch government.
Lost control
The investigation by the National Ombudsman shows that the Dutch authorities involved lost sight of the couple's perspective when it became clear that the Thai would not carry out the requested investigative actions at the desired time.
The Public Prosecution Service states afterwards that they could not have foreseen that the Thai government would launch its own criminal investigation into the couple and that they would be arrested. The National Ombudsman does not find this credible: after all, the Dutch authorities themselves took the initiative to send the Thai the letter and provided the Thai with information to support their request. This while they were well aware of the risks of a drug-related criminal investigation in Thailand. The National Ombudsman believes that the Public Prosecution Service and the police have failed to make a realistic assessment beforehand whether sending the letter was careful, effective and proportionate.
Minister of Justice Grapperhaus
According to Minister Ferd Grapperhaus of Justice and Security, the opinion of the National Ombudsman is "firm". Nevertheless, the minister does not want to make any promises about bringing Van Laarhoven back from Thailand, as demanded by government party D66.
Source: National Ombudsman
Whether the Public Prosecution Service has done something wrong is in itself not that important.
Van Laarhoven has broken the law in Thailand and has been convicted.
The bomb attacks and shootings at coffee shops in the Netherlands prove that the guys in the drug trade are no sweethearts.
Van Laarhoven was undoubtedly not, when it came to protecting his trade, otherwise he would soon have been exhausted.
What law has been broken in Thailand? Don't claim something that hasn't been proven!
The Dutch government itself creates problems with its front and back door "policy".
the “tolerated” cannabis trade!
If you are convicted, you are guilty until an appeal may find you innocent.
If it were otherwise, most prisoners - in the Netherlands, for example - would be innocent, because there will be few criminals who continue to carry out trials up to the Supreme Court.
He has been convicted of laundering drug money in Thailand.
What happens in the Netherlands is irrelevant to the crime committed in Thailand.
Thai law applies in Thailand.
In Thailand people are quickly sentenced (preventative), without a substantiated guilty verdict.
Only at the request of the Dutch judiciary.
The import of a lot of money into Thailand and the origin, which could not be further explained, was therefore labeled as money laundering.
Whether this comes from “drugs” has not been proven; no clear definition has been given.
Louis,
Van Laarhoven's conviction in Thailand only has to do with money laundering, something she will not tolerate here. The tolerated weed trade in NL has nothing to do with this.
Moreover, the tolerated weed trade in NL does not simply prevent you from paying taxes as every entrepreneur is obliged to.
It seems as if the OM is commenting here.
If you cannot buy legally, you are already punishable, but that is no longer accepted by Dutch judges.
If you cannot officially make purchases, but you do sell, you will be levied via payroll tax and it is estimated that tax will indeed be paid.
The Public Prosecution Service would like to know why they arrive at different amounts, it is as simple as that.
No, Maryse, then there was no question of black money and even today nothing has been proven, people are only suspected. You can find the verdict in English and Dutch on the internet and it only talks about money laundering.
In Thailand it has apparently been proven that he has broken the law, because he was convicted here.
And that's all that matters for his current situation.
The Netherlands could declare him innocent a hundred times, but the Thai court has come to the conclusion that he committed a crime in Thailand, and that is why he is now in a Thai prison.
“Whether the Public Prosecution Service has done something wrong is not that important in itself.”
That's what the whole research is about, so it's important. In the case of requests for legal assistance, it is important that the Public Prosecution Service carefully considers the possible consequences of such a request.
It may indeed be the case that a suspect for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service should be regarded as a suspect for a little longer, but in this case the suspect has already had to serve a sentence in another country due to the actions of the Public Prosecution Service, of which it was known in advance that he would was going to get.
This always reminds me so much of the willingness of government officials about 80 years ago and they are also called compatriots….. too sad for words.
I think that Van L and his wife have to wait for the appeal case in the Thai cell because that procedure is ongoing. Only then can transfer of the man to NL be requested according to the treaty; his wife's position is different because she is Thai.
How many more people worldwide are in jail because of overzealous officials who don't get their way immediately? In the Netherlands it still applies that you are only guilty if the judge convicts you; the judge, not a civil servant.
There is a nice word for that in Thailand; Karma.
That the punishment is disproportionate is clear and we need not argue about that. However, it is evident that Mr van Laarhoven has engaged in criminal activities and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is now trying to convict Mr van Laarhoven via the Al Capone route. For the (consciously or unconsciously) ignorant; with four coffee shops you NEVER make millions legally, let alone pay 20 million in taxes (probably VAT). That is criminally acquired property and (obviously) punishable. Mr van Laarhoven is therefore not innocent, at most it is sour that he has to serve his sentence in Thailand instead of in a Dutch prison, which is of course a difference of day and night. In short, karma!
D66 again shows itself to be the party of conscience; while people in Groningen have been waiting for years for compensation for damage caused by earthquakes and are kept on the line with the support of D66 and D66 even blocked a motion from the opposition, Mr van Laarhoven has to go to the Netherlands today. Seems to me a matter of wrong priorities and trying to make political money by suddenly adopting a "conscientious" attitude. Losers.
When an investigation into tax evasion was started in the Netherlands, Van Laarhoven should have just returned to the Netherlands himself. And in the Netherlands we have to wait for the investigation. But that's in hindsight. He will also realize that his 'flight' to Thailand was not the best choice.
I do not agree with the disproportionate punishment, we can take an example here everything is soft and sweet even for criminals.
It is of course sad for Johan's wife, but in many countries (including Thailand) a judge will judge that she has also benefited from the laundered money. And therefore punished. I think the penalty is disproportionate.
Unfortunately, once again only the piece of money laundering in the conviction is considered. There were more criminal offenses, precisely because of this the Thai wife also received a punishment, while in Thailand the judge often takes the position that the Thai woman is more a victim of her foreign husband. Her conviction is therefore not about profiting from money, but about the criminal offenses. Bangkokpost has been surprised several times about the one-sided and partial reporting in the Netherlands, and this is again the case now.
The problem with punishment in Thailand is that there is no reasonable measure.
A penalty can be determined by the judge between, for example, a 1000 Baht fine and 10 years in prison.
That may be a bit of an exaggeration, and is only meant to indicate the problem.
A punishment must be proportionate.
The punishment must be proportionate to the crime, and not subject to the discretion of the judge.
I think that we in Europe, and certainly in Belgium, should keep quiet about 'disproportionate' and 'not reasonable size'. In Thailand, a punishment is still a punishment, and that's how it should be. Here, suspects just laugh in the face of the judges, the OM, the system,…. The punishments given in Belgium are disproportionate and therefore not reasonable in size! And this is also reflected in society. Open a newspaper here and you will spontaneously start crying!
Completely agree. We can do without people like that here. Anyone who burns his ass should sit on the blisters. Of course nothing is said about the victims of their trade.
Victims of their trade? Which victims? I think you speak (write) this out of ignorance, dear Eddy. Alcohol and cigarettes both (separately, so not even added together) cause many more victims. It is not for nothing that people worldwide increasingly see that weed trade (read: sale to users and production) is being legalized. Where there are victims of weed in 'this world', it is wholesale. However, this only and only because a lot of money is made with it, because that part is not legalized. Purely by using (smoking) weed, there are very few victims.
https://www.livescience.com/42738-marijuana-vs-alcohol-health-effects.html
If the Public Prosecution Service and Justice wanted Johan van Laarhoven so badly, there was always a possibility.
Now they have played a very dirty game with inhuman consequences for van Laarhoven and his wife.
Especially if you have seen the video images of Dutch justice and OM officials in a hotel in Bangkok, it is horrible how they talk there and what kind of heel they deliberately wanted to put on van Laarhoven.
Van Laarhoven should have automatically reported to the Dutch embassy for a new passport, for example, that is Dutch territory and they should have arrested van Laarhoven there and then transferred it to the Netherlands, that would have been humane and humane and even without his Thai wife being there now. the disadvantages of experience.
I have never seen those video images, nor am I convinced that they exist.
Why would officials make a recording of a conversation they had and say things in it that could possibly negatively influence the judge's verdict in a trial?
I've read all the stories about that Van Laarhoven, but there's one thing I don't understand.
The man and his wife have been convicted in Thailand, but for what exactly?
Has there ever been an official publication of the verdict of the Thai court?
I don't think so and with that all reports about the alleged crimes, for which they
convicted are at least questionable.
This man has not yet been proven to have murdered someone, abused small children, threatened the state of the Netherlands with a terrorist attack, or committed similar acts in any other way. At least not as far as I know. And as long as you are not convicted, you are not guilty.
Economic crimes, but how many important rascals from prestige to low criminals does the Netherlands count? That Van Laarhoven should have realized that at a certain point the net closed around him and that he should have chosen eggs for his money, by letting the Dutch legal process take its course.
Sometimes you can be too smart, with all the consequences that entails.
Doesn't take away, he is a national of the Netherlands, in this case father can also take better care of his naughty children and not shift it to another country. We still have the injustice of Guilio Poch in Argentina fresh on our minds…
Mr van Laarhoven broke Thai law by illegally importing currency in millions of baht into Thailand without reporting it. He bought real estate with this money with the help of his Thai wife, he cannot buy land in Thailand in his own name. Both have concealed the origin of this money from the Thai tax authorities, which is also a tax crime.
If I import money with a value of more than $ 20.000, I will be punishable under Thai law.
Tax fraud also carries fixed prison sentences in the Netherlands.
If I violate tax laws in any country, I must bear the consequences.
Also in Thailand: Every resident is expected to know the law.
William Expat.
Which way has been followed to illegally import currency in millions of baht would be very clever.
Which Dutch and Thai banks will have looked the other way?
By completing a “Foreign Exchange Transaction Form” you can legally transfer large amounts!
But if a consignment of "laundered" money in the Netherlands is transferred to Thailand, the Dutch government will take measures there upon discovery. It is not for nothing that two Dutch banks were caught in such illegal practices.
Thailand has been trying for a few years to tackle criminal activities by foreigners for the sake of appearances. Now that there was much to be gained from a farang, much could be confiscated in the event of a "conviction", which is no longer returned to the convicted person. As is known, luxury goods such as cars reappear in Thai society much later. (Sometimes through an auction)
He was just convicted on the basis of transfers from abroad and that is described in the verdict.
In fact, every overbooking has resulted in punishment, but as it works with many people, it is not important to know the truth to form an opinion.
75 years in prison for laundering money earned in the Netherlands, and the suspicion that too little tax has been paid, if this is the standard then some more Dutch people in Thailand should start to worry.
Van Laarhoven was deliberately brought into this inhumane situation by the Public Prosecution Service, I hope that the person responsible will soon have to deal with his or her karma.
Yes, the Netherlands should never have called in the Thai authorities. But what to do in case of murder or rape.
The case and the judgment of Laarhoven have been fairly extensively in the Thai press. I'll pick a few that I don't mean to say it's all true. Thai newspapers sometimes make mistakes….
The Thai court found that large sums of money had been transferred from abroad to Thailand on many occasions (approximately twenty), totaling many millions of euros. That money was distributed among his wife's relatives with the intention of concealing it. The amounts came from many countries, Luxembourg, the Virgin Islands, Egypt, Central American countries, Cyprus, England and a few more. Van L. could not explain where the money came from. The verdict mentions 'drug money', for which he was not convicted, but the judge did have that in mind. He was convicted of money laundering. In Thailand, just like in the Netherlands, this is about 4 years. But the Thai practice of sentencing multiplies that 4 years by the number of times of money laundering and then you arrive at 70 years. In practice, that will be 20 years. It's all here:
https://www.isranews.org/isranews-news/42614-103.html
A clear story. The man gambled and lost. Who burns his buttocks….
Well Peter, you are right about that, but the question is now how much fire has been kept on those buttocks, and how big have those blisters become? In the Netherlands we always pride ourselves on having our affairs arranged so well. Why then was that man deviously transferred to the Thai authority? What was the role of the public prosecutor involved? Was he competent enough? https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/438661/sjoemelofficier-gehoord-in-zaak-coffeeshophouder
Indeed, finally a plus-minus plausible explanation, for which thanks. Also quite believable and logical. This confirms my earlier message that we have no reproaches to make about the disproportionate punishments in Thailand. The laxity in the Belgian, and probably also Dutch, legal system has meant that we ALL have lost all reality and logic by finding it logical to simply not pronounce sentences for more serious crimes, and if there are any once something is spoken, we find an excuse not to have the punishment carried out, in other words, at home with an ankle bracelet. It makes me sick. So if the story from the article is correct, I would say that Thailand has been very flexible and soft with Mr. Van L.! (Notably 80 years reduced to 20)
sasico,
The Thai justice system does not have a good reputation. A lot goes wrong, from the police to the public prosecutor to the judge and verdict. People with money and connections are often released unscathed, while people without money (no lawyer, no guarantor) often receive severe sentences for what I believe are minor crimes. There are 500 people on death row, mostly for drug crimes, and not for production or trade, but only for personal possession and use.
See:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/rechtspleging-thailand-de-wetten-zijn-voortreffelijk-maar/
Dear Tino
It is true that Thai justice does not have a good reputation. But also in Belgium, people with money can afford a lot. Especially when it comes to financial fraud. Here one can simply buy off his sentence. So not that much of a difference.
Secondly, I wish to emphasize again that you are quite right in your statement. So one more reason not to be as stupid as Mr Van L.
I therefore stand by my statement that I have no pity at all for such criminals.
And if people with money often escape with a fright, Mr. Van L. would probably also have escaped with a fright. So this balloon does not work in this case either.
see son of Red Bull
Premchai Karnasutrai, illegal shooting of black panther in protected nature area.
Prasit Wongsuwan, vice president, the "watch man"
1° Has very little to do with Van L.
2° No difference with Belgium
I never claimed that Thailand is not corrupt, but Belgium is also corrupt. Just look at our Belgian football league, and here it is all about football, man man man… The difference is that in Thailand a penalty is still a penalty. And I can only applaud that.
The detail is that such an amount could never be earned from the sale of liquor and knick-knacks. Since the sale of soft drugs also took place there, it is assumed that the money came from there.
The sale of soft drugs has never been proven due to a lack of direct evidence, but according to the judge the money was earned from the unproven sale and the latter was confirmed to the Thai by the OM.
The fact that this is a task to be determined first by a Dutch judge has been deliberately forgotten by the Public Prosecution Service.
It doesn't matter how you think about soft drugs, but due process should always come first in the Netherlands.
The Thai circumstances are completely different in that respect. If you then manage to go to court, you have handled it wrong in a number of previous steps.
There is a lot of scope and depending on the crime, respect or compensation is an important aspect. This is also the reason that the somewhat rich are not so quickly behind bars. If you make it really crazy then you just go to Dubai like the infamous family S.
Of course, it remains crude that the Netherlands is hopelessly lagging behind with legalization, while recreational use is already permitted by law in various countries.
Precursors of a 30-year trend are sacrificed for the greater glory of measly little men who then report to Other Times 10 years later with a sanctimonious face that we should see that in the zeitgeist.
The Dutch mentality is often based on not giving in.
Are you going on vacation again? How do you come up with such a comment?
These types of people think that with their shady practices and money they are above the law. It's great that the Netherlands is setting a trap for them.
I always thought that the Dutch pay taxes to maintain a government that promised to protect all Dutch people. As main sponsors, those Dutch people do not pay their government to be extradited through devious means to evil juntas and other regimes in foreign countries where the citizen-government relationship is very different!
After reading most of the comments above, only one surprising conclusion is possible: the finest flower of the Netherlands, who is of course without sins, appears to have moved to Thailand!
Elaborating on your statement: this 'main sponsor' had NOT paid his government, or at least too little. Otherwise there would have been no black money that had to be laundered. Incidentally, 'protection' by the government also has its limits and is certainly not unconditional.
As far as I can understand, NL OM has tried to get him convicted in NL.
That did not work and probably would not have worked.
Thailand has therefore been called in to get him behind bars.
And it worked.
The OM should be ashamed of themselves!
The Poch case was also so beautiful, and didn't I read recently that another Dutchman has been arrested due to the actions of the Public Prosecution Service in Thailand?
A friend of mine, a lawyer, said years ago that the Public Prosecution Service sometimes used very bad methods.
HansNL, you write 'As far as I can understand, NL OM tried to get him convicted in NL.'
As far as I know, that business wasn't running then; that case is only now running and the case against Johan has been suspended because he cannot yet attend his trial.
In the meantime it has become clear that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has indicated to the Thai Justice that it will subject Van Laarhoven to an investigation for “drug crimes”.
For those who want to know what happened, read: https://www.justiceforjohan.nl/johan-van-laarhoven/
A question. Why do you only publish reactions that speak against the OM and in favor of that convicted gangster. I am Belgian and in my opinion those coffee shop owners in the Netherlands are just drug dealers and cannot be punished severely enough. If they still flee abroad and are arrested there, 75 years in prison is still too little.
There is a large group of paid people who post about that poor innocent van Laarhoven on all social media.
In addition, the fate of his wife does not seem to be very important, because you don't read much about it.
That's the big problem with social media.
Just think of Trump's election.
Well, Lung Theo, watch out when you cross the border because the Netherlands has more than 500 coffee shops with 'smoking products' and therefore more than 500 'gangsters' to use your words. If the Netherlands has to lock them all up as you want, then our prisons will finally be full again and you Belgians can keep your own criminals because they are now in jail with us because you have no money or no stones.
The sale of cannabis in the Netherlands is part of a (crooked) tolerance policy and you can agree with that, or not, but it is there and many Belgians also enjoy it. Legislation is different in every country, but it is really going too far to call people who work in coffee shops gangster as if they were the Daltons, or their cousins.
Here you can read something: https://www.jellinek.nl/vraag-antwoord/neemt-het-aantal-coffeeshops-af/ … and before you think you can blame that Jellinek, know this: they sell everything but no weed…
Cornelis is mistaken and in his mistake he is much too firm. The government, fully financed by the bourgeoisie, has been 'careless' towards one of those sponsors, especially by enlisting the help of a foreign power that is hostile to soft drugs to make fun of a Dutchman. That is the opinion of our National Ombudsman. Other respondents, as the self-blame-big-hump responses show, also know much better than the National Ombudsman, unimpeded by file knowledge. Do they realize that they themselves may be the next victim?
I elaborated on the position of one Joe Argus. I never claim to know better than the Ombudsman. I also don't write 'your own fault, big bump'. I am only stating that the protection by the government also has limits and is certainly not unconditional. It has also become clear to me that the Public Prosecution Service did not act correctly – but that does not mean that van Laarhoven is exclusively a 'victim'.
Knew the protection of the bourgeoisie, which once created its government for this purpose, but limits!
Cornelius! Then Poch, Charley, Van Laarhoven – I'll just name a few victims of 'careless' (Ombudsman) action by their own government – would never have spent so long in a foreign cell.
It is not part of our government's duties to flatter our own citizens by calling in a foreign country, which is well known to have its own selfish agenda!
The time when the government was 'the authority placed above us' is behind us in NL. The government exists on our behalf, functions thanks to us, is wholly ours, not the other way around!