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Money laundering offences land Dutch man, his Thai wife in jail for a long time


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13 hours ago, LaoPo said:

You're partly correct and partly incorrect.

 

It was not the DUTCH police who were after him. It were the DUTCH tax authorities who sent the Dutch Justice Department on Van Laarhoven's tail and it was there that the Dutch Prosecutor went totally wrong by informing the Thai authorities that he was a drugs dealer...he was not, according to Dutch laws.

 

Besides, Van Laarhoven lived in Thailand already since 2008 and the Prosecutor was after him in 2014 when he sent all the fraudulent info to Thailand upon which info Van Laarhoven and wife were arrested.

 

There are 2 major things we have to put apart:

Van Laarhoven was in a LEGALLY accepted business, selling marihuana and hash to private clients in OFFICIAL shops. As you know the Dutch laws are bizarre en twisted about soft drugs since it is NOT legal to BUY or OWN a larger quantity than 500grams (for selling in shops) but it is allowed ONCE they're inside the shops but not more than 500grams. Per client they're allowed to sell 5grams/per person/per day. See link in Dutch*

The profits for the coffeeshop-owner are legal although it's very difficult for a shopowner to open a bankaccount with major banks; They simply refuse him to own/open a bankaccount.

Of course he has to declare his sales and profits and has to pay his taxes, where it DID go wrong for and with him!

 

He took the money he made with him to Thailand but "forgot" to pay all of his taxes in Holland. That's a case between the DUTCH Tax authorities and Van Laarhoven, not the police. 

He should have been a good boy and pay all of his taxes which he did NOT.

 

That's where the problem for Van Laarhoven started and he paid a major prize since the Thai tax guys prosecuted him for tax evasion and laundering of drugs money brought into Thailand, made abroad, and selling drugs OUTSIDE Holland...who knows where to?

 

It's better to leave your country with all taxes and other debts paid, or face eventual very serious consequences. Many criminals and tax evaders "think" they can get away with (legal or not) crimes, once they settle in Thailand, but they would be much better off in their own country...

 

https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/drugs/gedoogbeleid-softdrugs-en-coffeeshops

 

That's probably why his sentence has gotten progressively lighter. If he does only (another) 5 years which I consider highly likely, that's probably what he would have got for tax evasion anyway, no?

 

Anyhow, if he had a net worth in Thailand of at least 100 million baht, you would have thought some extraordinary private payments would have made this go away. I can't understand that it is only after 5 years of jail during trial and the final sentencing that the Dutch government comes over all apologetic and only after sentencing that this is making the front pages. Why the previous silence? Had he no relatives or friends?

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16 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

So he (and she) are not bad uns?

Not in my book, no.

By the sounds of it, worst case scenario, bit of tax evasion, and fiddling the books.

The "bad uns", by all accounts, was the Dutch prosecution and justice depts.

Followed by the Thai depts this end falling over themselves in a bid to who could get their greasy mitts on which assets the quickest.

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15 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

Gave up weed 30 years ago but  aren't  Thai sticks still considered very good?

 

The couple above sure drew the good life to an abrupt close.

 

 

life money wealth status also health happiness etc it goes up and it goes down...it comes and it goes...

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15 hours ago, ukrules said:

This is pathetic. People are reading this and think he was over here selling drugs. This is very much not the case.

 

The Thai justice system is NEVER to be trusted with anything, they're even more incompetent than the government.

I find that very hard to believe: the "even more" bit I mean!

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37 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

So he (and she) are not bad uns?

No, selling marijuana has been legale in Holland as long as I can remember, the money laundry is another question, I believe they where framed and the actual criminals are the ones who confiscated his assets.   

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16 hours ago, pieeyed said:

What a load of <deleted>. This BS has been going on for years. Now Thailand is going to try to legalize ganga and this guy gets busted for things that happened in HOLLAND. Don'know what happened to the text?

 

Thailand isn't legalising Ganga, it's permitting the medical by products of the cannabis

plant. No one is going to get stoned legally for a long time.

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None of the above are read into the story well enough to respond , he didn't do anything wrong in thailand all his money was legal and he didn't do anything wrong in holland as well all his money there was earned legally there was just a case against him over unpaid taxes and that case was still pending so he wasn't guilty of anything yet . It was the dutch government that where scared he fled the country therefore they send a letter that there was a case against him about unpaid taxes to the thai government , but the dutch goverment said in that letter that he was laundering drugs money in thailand wich was not treu but if you talk to thai about laundering drug money they see the cashpig and dollar signs i  their eyes already thats why they arrested him and his wife so they could take all of his assests . Right after his arrest the foulplay of the dutch government came out and there is a lot of talking about that for years only just now they send a minister of the government who just talked with prayut last few days and now are busy to laarhoven and his wife back to holland as soon as possible . Shame on the dutch government for playing this foul game i hope the person who sended the wrongfully acusing letter will have to stay in a thai jailcell himself for 10 years but thats dreaming of something that will never happen anywho not only thai system is corrupt it happens everywhere 

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16 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

so he tried to "hide" his money and profits by buying several luxury cars?  Buying luxury cars in Thailand is not really a good way to "hide"!

he was giving it large everywhere around phoenix golf course saying he was in property and building, if he was not doing anything under hand. why lie ?

 

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What hè did was not illegal in Holland, just a shop and selling. After selling his shops hè moved to Thailand. Then dutch justice steps in and tip off Thailand who ready to confiscate his belonging and trow V Laarhoven in jail.  Yes iff you kill someone here you have a better life..

discusting case. 

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11 minutes ago, Tomahawk21 said:

he was giving it large everywhere around phoenix golf course saying he was in property and building, if he was not doing anything under hand. why lie ?

 

You see what can hapened iff the Thai find out what you do before. I would have done the same.  

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Before any one comments here they should read the correct  facts 

which are HE was an owner of coffie shops in Netherlands 

which are permitted but with a 50)/50) % yes no 

he went to Thailand and did spend big money so all there did get big money to 

The Dutch Justice department wanted him

for something and found out that he was in Thailand they contacted Thai juatice and got him arested and the Thai  also charged him

if the Dutch jutsice had not done this he would have been still a free man

 

 

now Grappehuis the boss of justice here is hanging his head cos the dutch justice department make a big mistake doing what the did .

 

 

So Grappehuis was last week in Thailand talking to the officials what they can do to get This guy back to holland due to the Dutch justice fault 

all round 1 big mess from the Dutch goverment and how he Thai made this allegations is anybodys guess .

this guy will come bach to holland and fact the music to  will be intresting how the justice apply the charge ?

 

 

1 thing is sure i hope he get released and his wife to 5 years in jail already Thailand  OOO

 

 

NOW THE THAI jUSTICE HAVE PASSED HIS OFFICIAL SENTENCE THEY AND THE DUTCH GOVERMENT CAN MAKE AN AGGREMENT IF HE CAN DO HIS JAIL IN hOLLAND IS A BILATURAL AGREEMENT 

 

 

if he made a fortune on marawanna well dont a million others do the same 

 

some people in Thailand wer also involved but they just vanish i think into thai air 

if u look around the world how this marawanna is going many states in america and canada allow it 

now thailand is thinking about it to

 

it has been around for centuaries      many and i mean many use it  so legalise it 

i see in Canada they legalised it but still a big drug war going on so legalise it all and maybe just a fraction of the drug wars will go away 

 

 

 

 

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If he had no money and assets there would be no prosecution in Thailand, however he made his fortune legal in the Netherlands and moved a lot to Thailand. The Dutch incompetent justice department gave the Thai corrupt officials a good reason to get all his money and assets, that's all. 

Not the first rich farang in Thailand who will loose a lot of his fortune to corrupt Thai officials. Just put them in jail and wait.

 

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3 minutes ago, sitanonchai said:

If he had no money and assets there would be no prosecution in Thailand, however he made his fortune legal in the Netherlands and moved a lot to Thailand. The Dutch incompetent justice department gave the Thai corrupt officials a good reason to get all his money and assets, that's all. 

Not the first rich farang in Thailand who will loose a lot of his fortune to corrupt Thai officials. Just put them in jail and wait.

 

this case show how dangerous thailand is for foreigners, especially wealthy.

his biggest mistake was to move here much of his money.

otherwise they would not throw him for life in jail.

life in jail !!! for what? even if he is guilty of money laundering, even

if the amount is as big as 20 million euros, why 20 years in jail ???

ON THE MEANTIME, thai businessman who is accused of stealing 100 million baht

from investors, will get what?..

 

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2019/08/19/thai-bsuinessman-dr-ae-arrested-saturday-gold-company-bangkok-police-khon-kaen/

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18 hours ago, tgw said:

but money laundering is about money that was obtained illegally. cheating the taxman does not make the money illegal.

 

for me I  look at ALL govt  officials  here and I  bet they are  virtually ALL massively involved with corruption, but thats ok as its not seen huh!

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2 hours ago, NRGF said:

I haven't smoked for many years, not even cigarettes but Thai sticks are generally considered as the best marijuana in the world.

:cheesy::cheesy::cheesy:

Dude.

That was 40 years ago.

Things have moved on since then.

Just a bit.

These days it would not even make the top 50.

Edit, not even the top 100.

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Shame on The Nation for reporting the whole thing in such a way that people who haven't been following this case will think he was here in Thailand exporting marijuana. This article amounts to a smear job and when you consider who it benefits, oh my god.  If one reads the earlier reports on all this, he had legal coffee shops in Holland selling marijuana legally to people within that country. The drugs part of it has nothing to do with Thailand. If I am not mistaken he got into trouble with the Dutch authorities because he didn't pay taxes or enough taxes and tried to use Thailand banks to evade paying. So, yes, that part of it is Thailand's business, that he involved the country's banks in concealing his profits from the tax authorities. But it doesn't strike one as particularly consistent that suddenly a Thai bank is so concerned about ill gotten gains, I really find it hard to believe that they are so squeaky clean. 100 years? 60 years? Now 20 years, still even with the sentence reduction its as clear as day that this is about a corrupt system grabbing his assets and if they sent him back to Holland who knows he might out of the monkey house in a few years, perhaps not enough time for his assets to disappear without a trace.

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1 hour ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

this case show how dangerous thailand is for foreigners, especially wealthy.

his biggest mistake was to move here much of his money.

otherwise they would not throw him for life in jail.

life in jail !!! for what? even if he is guilty of money laundering, even

if the amount is as big as 20 million euros, why 20 years in jail ???

ON THE MEANTIME, thai businessman who is accused of stealing 100 million baht

from investors, will get what?..

 

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2019/08/19/thai-bsuinessman-dr-ae-arrested-saturday-gold-company-bangkok-police-khon-kaen/

i know some very wealthy foreigners here all driving nice expensive car live in big houses but all there money was a 100% legit and taxes paid they dont seem to have any problems.

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20 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Why would he export ahitty Asian weed when it's legal where he comes from? 

On another note whatever happened to the Ozzie from pattaya that got caught throwing the hard drugs into the ocean a few years ago?

i think he must have bought his way out.

I think theres more to the story than meets the eye.  

As you say why come to Thailand to export grass when he came from the main European source . 

The grass was obviously greener on the other side . 

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He just made the mistake to transfer all his money to Thailand. The reason was simple he feared a huge fine from the Dutch tax office because most the money was probably not taxed yet.

The second mistake was also using his wives bank account. So this was an easy score for the Thai. Every money transfer was considered as a money laundry action and so they could seize it all. 

 

So trying to outsmart the Dutch tax office he has lost everything. It is not easy to bribe your way out if they simply have seized all your assets. So I think his bank account in the Netherlands must be empty. 

 

Most probable outcome is that he will be allowed to return to the Netherlands where he will be free because according Dutch law the penalty will be much less. But instead retiring in Thailand with his millions he will be poor in the Netherlands.

 

It is a good reminder never to transfer all your assets to a country like Thailand. And yes, this could also happen to offshore workers if their home country tax office would ask the Thai office for some information. And maybe next time at the immigration office people also has to show the origin of their 800,000 baht

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14 hours ago, smedly said:

I was referring to money laundering - 

 

 

There was no money laundering. His money was made legally in 4 coffeeshops in the Netherlands. That he had issues with the tax authorities (after he move to Thailand) is not money laundering but the Dutch Prosecutor sent false info to Thailand and from that point the Thai considered it money laundering, based on the false info from Holland's side.

 

and THAT's why the Dutch Minister specially flew to Thailand to meet the Thai PM Prayuth and apologized for the DUTCH mistakes. Such a move, by a Minister of Justice, for an individual prisoner abroad, has NEVER DONE BEFORE. That implements the magnitude of the case.

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11 hours ago, domdom said:

Hello

 

Some posters here give the right info..

Big business of high level coffee shops in NL (legal business).. Sold his company and came to live here..

NL claimed there was tax issues.. His lawyers in NL were in contact with NL authorities and courts and he was supposed to go to NL to answer all questions beginning of August but was suddenly arrested end of july after a letter from the NL prosecutor was sent by somebody of the NL embassy to thai authorities.. speaking about drug.

All their properties have been seized immediately and apparently everything is already sold..

Recently the ombudsman in NL said the acting of NL government was totally wrong and things seem to be moving..

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2019/08/25/dutch-justice-minister-ferd-grapperhaus-thailand-johan-van-laarhoven-thai-prison-legal-case/

 

After they had no news from the NL embassy for years, they begin now to visit and follow the case..

His hope is to be sent back to NL ASAP.. but everything was blocked till after supreme court decision, so things may begin to move now

 

Nobody will give them back the years spent in jail, neither will the kids get back the years spent without the parents..

 

Have a nice day

 

There are speculations and rumors that Van Laarhoven+wife will be sent back to Holland before the so called "Prinsjesdag", which is on the third Tuesday of September 2019, September 18th, the day the Government presents their new plans for the coming fiscal year, presented by His Majesty The King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands.

 

Let's see if this becomes fact.

Two special Juristic teams from both Thailand and The Netherlands will negotiate in Bangkok the return of Van Laarhoven+wife which will cause NO loss of face for Thailand which is very important as everybody knows.

It depends on these negotiations how many years he still has to spend in Dutch prison.

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2 minutes ago, LaoPo said:

There was no money laundering. His money was made legally in 4 coffeeshops in the Netherlands. That he had issues with the tax authorities (after he move to Thailand) is not money laundering but the Dutch Prosecutor sent false info to Thailand and from that point the Thai considered it money laundering, based on the false info from Holland's side.

 

and THAT's why the Dutch Minister specially flew to Thailand to meet the Thai PM Prayuth and apologized for the DUTCH mistakes. Such a move, by a Minister of Justice, for an individual prisoner abroad, has NEVER DONE BEFORE. That implements the magnitude of the case.

when you hide money from the tax authority in your home country then move it to a foreign country you are breaking the law in both countries - there are international agreements across the world put in place to prevent money laundering 

 

If he had paid his taxes then he wouldn't have a problem although I do think the correct action for Thailand would have been to deport him back to the Netherlands - what Thailand is doing is excessive and rather suspect considering the amount of money involved 

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10 hours ago, Boatfreak said:

Please be a good journalist and report the correct facts. He is sentenced for money laundering crime in the Netherlands. The soft drugs business was in the Netherlands and fully legal. A big f..ck up of the Dutch government. 

That's incorrect! Thailand cannot sentence an individual for money laundering, Van Laarhoven did NOT commit in The Netherlands. THAT was not what the case was about. The prosecutor sent FALSE info the Thailand and Thailand considered the false info as truth and sentenced him for money laundering INSIDE Thailand; which was a farce since he did not launder money in Thailand. It was sent over legally from Holland to Thailand.

 

Avoiding, or not paying taxes abroad, is not a crime in Thailand and it was also NOT a crime in Holland....yet.

Remember, someone is innocent until prover guilty in HOLLAND!

 

What I heard, he was taxed in Holland for some Euro 20million, (Baht 680million) but these figures are not confirmed and I highly doubt that it's correct.

IMO, taxes due by Van Laarhoven, will be settled for a lot less...if he can still pay after the confiscation of all assets and money he had in Thailand. Who knows but Van Laarhoven and his brother...

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23 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I've never quite understood the seemingly pointless Thai legal process of courts sentencing people to ridiculously long prison terms for what they've been accused of, and then saying, oh by the way, the pertinent law limits the prison time to 1/10th or whatever of the sentenced time, so we're going to give him the 1/10th....

 

Why not just follow the law from the get-go, and if the maximum sentence allowed under the law is 20 years, then sentence the poor soul to 20 years and be done with it.... 

 

The wife, meanwhile, after 5 years credit for time already served, should be out of the streets again and a free lady within a year or two. And probably ending up being divorced and free to marry again, since hubby seemingly is going to be put away, or perhaps deported abroad at some point, for a long time.

 

Which is exactly how the US courts work ! 

 

One US guy was sentenced to a total of 900 years - he then spent a fortune on an appeal and it was reduced by 300 - its not a thai thing it seems

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Really interesting case.  This guy has been screwed over big time by his own government.  Maybe he can add to the€20 million compensation with a movie deal.  The role Schwarzenegger was born to play.

 

Makes you realise how what you do in your own country often doesn't sit well in other countries.  

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23 hours ago, ukrules said:

This is pathetic. People are reading this and think he was over here selling drugs. This is very much not the case.

 

The Thai justice system is NEVER to be trusted with anything, they're even more incompetent than the government.

It's obvious that all the cash, houses cars jewelry etc had found new owners. No need to guess who, of course also the informer. 

 

I don't get the point, they make it look like he'd dealt drugs in LOS which isn't true.

 

Nor did he bring drugs from Thailand to another country.

 

From another source which wasn't even considered by Thai authorities. The fish stinks a lot.

 

  "Laarhoven claimed that he obtained the 300 million baht, which was transferred to the pair's bank accounts in Thailand, from the sale of four coffee houses in the Netherlands. However, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no evidence to support his claim because 300 million baht was too large an amount to be generated by a coffee business."

 

How much does Thailand's courts know about coffee shop business? There are too many things just not right. 

 

What if he really sold some shops? They didn't want to see anything that would have saved him.

 

  How many and who received his goods? 

 

  

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8 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i wonder why this guy transfered to thailand so much money, from

an organised civillised country like holland.

it just does not make sense, propably also to thai courts, which made

them even more suspicious that he is trying to launder money.

having all this wealth in thailand makes you a direct target of both

criminal and authorities, corrupt or not.

 

i know some foreigners who run succesfull businesses here in thailand,

but move all their profits, legally, to other countries, just to stay safe.

they do it according to their thai wives advices, who tell them

they better not have "too much money" in thai bank.

 

this is true not only to thailand but to any corrupt third world country.

this dutch man was too naive...or under educated about how this

world works...or maybe too in love with his thai wife...???

 

I agree with you...where it not that Van Laarhoven probably didn't have much choice.

 

He couldn't have the weeds money income put in a Dutch bank since Dutch banks do NOT accept bankaccounts from individuals, when they know they're in the weed/hash business, whether it was/is legal or not.

 

That probably caused problems for him and he had to find other sources to stash his money.

 

If you're not financially educated abroad or don't know the financial specialists and accountants he was probably blind for eventual problems in Thailand. He should have hired the very best off-shore financial specialist who know how to deal with such kind of money.

I assume he did not and took most or all of the money to Thailand.

 

BIG MISTAKE

 

 

 

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