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


snoop1130

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3 minutes ago, LaoPo said:

 

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

 

 

 

Considering that Holland has plenty of coffeeshops where weed is legal, it's hard to believe that the Supreme Court ruled that his story, that he sold four coffeeshops can't be true, because that wouldn't generate that much money.

 

  I'm wondering how much these people know about prices of houses in Holland? It couldn't be used to his defense, they just swapped it under the carpet.

 

  Then there's a big question mark. Did the court have access to his bank accounts? That would explain all.

 

And why does he have to be in a Thai prison? Who else gets 70 years for money laundering?

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8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

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?

 

That was because the Official Dutch OMBUDSMAN sent his report about the Van Laarhoven case only some time ago to the Dutch Government upon which it HAD to be decided to sent personal apologies to Thailand by the Dutch Mnister of Justice, a step he'd rather would have preferred NOT to do but he HAD TO DO it.

 

The case can be brought back to perspective since the Dutch Prosecutor (now removed to a lower level) sent FALSE info to Thailand upon which the Thai smelled a big fish....bad luck for Van Laarhoven and wife.

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13 minutes ago, LaoPo said:

 

That was because the Official Dutch OMBUDSMAN sent his report about the Van Laarhoven case only some time ago to the Dutch Government upon which it HAD to be decided to sent personal apologies to Thailand by the Dutch Mnister of Justice, a step he'd rather would have preferred NOT to do but he HAD TO DO it.

 

The case can be brought back to perspective since the Dutch Prosecutor (now removed to a lower level) sent FALSE info to Thailand upon which the Thai smelled a big fish....bad luck for Van Laarhoven and wife.

They keep both in prison because they took all away from them. It makes me sick. 

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2 hours ago, Paul944 said:

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

 

I don't think so; the Thai authorities won't let him go unless they get guaranteed promises that Van Laarhoven+wife will still have to go to jail for an agreed period of time by the two Justice teams from Thailand and Holland who will discuss this in due course. I'm very curious what will happen to all the assets Thailand confiscated...

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53 minutes ago, smedly said:

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 

He lived in Thailand since 2008 and the whole case started in 2011 with the Prosecutor sending false info to Thailand in 2014.

There were negotiations going on between the Dutch tax boys and Van Laarhoven but so far he was not convicted as of yet. He was just a suspect, owing money to the Tax boys, so they say.

To speed up the process the fraudulent Prosecutor sent false (Drugs related) info to Thailand.

 

I personally know of a case where the Justice Department, by means of an almost "criminal" Prosecutor, sent also FALSE info to the bank and justice department in another country, and even in their own language (!) informing these local authorities (in Europe) that they wanted specific info and described the person as dangerous and that he was seriously involved in the drugs business....THAT WAS 100% FALSE AND UNTRUE INFO since that individual was a normal business man without any drugs involvement or connections whatsoever.

 

Result? The bank and justice department believed the Prosecutor and sent ALL information which they normally NEVER would have done WITHOUT letting the individual know on forehand or asking him about his situation and explanation of sources and assets.

 

The word "DRUGS" did all the damage as it did in Thailand...

 

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5 hours ago, Thaifriends said:

Dutch drug dealer. What else should get?

Astonished to read sympathetic comments

IMO a drugs dealer is someone who deals, buys and sells illegal (soft) or hard drugs from one source to another in large quantities.

But Van Laarhoven had 4 official and legalized, so called "coffeeshops" in Holland. Every coffeeshop is entitled to keep 500grams of cannabis/marihuana/hash per day behind the counter to sell to individuals at a max of 5gr/person/per day.

THAT IS LEGAL !

 

The authorities know exactly who those individuals are and who own the coffeeshops.

Nothing illegal and no drug dealers.

 

 

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On 8/27/2019 at 9:04 PM, 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.

 

They've made their bed so now they lay on it

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Actually the accusations of money laundering are totally false.

 

When crimes were already commited they were under dutch law in the Netherlands. But in the Netherlands there is no criminal case against mr van Laarhoven and his wife. In contradiction. The minister of Justice was ordered by the house of representatives and the what is called "ombudsman" to get the man out of prison.

 

Fact is that drug laws in the Netherlands allow the trade and use of marihuana and hashiesh at limited quantities.

The man with consensus of the dutch government, tax office, justice department had what are called coffeeshops. Every major city has possibly 1 at 20.000 to 50.000 inhabitants. This is all legal and allowed.

Even smaller towns and villages might have.

 

mr van Laarhoven not just had one coffeeshop but created an imperium. He owned at about 20 of these locations and employed at about 150 employees. Tax, social security fees, insurance fees etc everything was payd. So actually legally he was an emplyer with shops. At about 2010 mr van Laarhoven sold his bussiness and moved to Thailand with his wife.

 

In 2014 one over actice tax employee did look to the finace of him and had some questions. The finance of the imperium was done by a well established global accountant office in the Netherlands.

 

The tax officer did ask information on the wherebouts of mr. van Laarhoven. Since he is in Thailand they have to ask via the department of justice.  The public attorney took over hurried action in this and contacted thai ministry of justice on vague assumptions. They not dit take a visit towards the accountant though.

The next thing done was that the prosecutor started to ask questions to thai justice department. Eventhough there was no case due to the false insinuations out from the netherlands The thai justice department stated a case in 2014. Based on the false and wrong information given by one dutch  prosecutor the Thai jistice department stated the case to be able to confiscate the possesions of mr van Laarhoven and his wife.

 

The source of all his the dutch gorenment was ORDERED to help and get mr van laarhoven as soon as possible to the Netherlands as together with his wife.

The situation now is that since mr van Laarhoven was senteced to 20 years and he was in prison already 5 years he can be extradited to the Netherlands.

When he will be extradited to the Netherlands he wil lbe a free man as soon as he sets a step on dutch soil. This since he was not accused of anything here.

Next mr van Laarhoven wil have a very big case against the dutch government for compensation of his los and the time he was in prison for 5 years and lost his money and possesions. Possibly 500.000 euro per year in prison for both him and the wife. And 2 to 5 million euro compensation for material losses.

 

https://www.bd.nl/tilburg/highway-to-hell-hoe-johan-van-laarhoven-in-de-thaise-bajes-belandde~aab372ad/?referrer=https://www.google.nl/

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On 8/27/2019 at 8:21 PM, worgeordie said:

Also no bail for him,but murderers..yes.

Those convicted of murder only get bail if they're appealing the conviction or sentence, this money launderer is not appealing.  Bail is not an alternative to the sentence!

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18 hours ago, Jack Mountain said:

 

Now I am wondering, if I win a lot of money in a Dutch Casino (legal in Holland but illegal in Thailand) and bring that money to here, could I expect the same treatment then?

No, you shouldn't expect the same treatment because that would not be money laundering!

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13 hours ago, Sir Swagman said:

This story seems to have changed from the initial one of doing him over for selling  weed in the Netherlands and committing other ‘crimes’ (as deemed by Thailand) yet not on thai soil, to now ‘exporting’? If you can be charged for offences not committed in a country I would suggest every Thai tourist be jailed on entry to any country for traffic offences - at the very least!

He was convicted for money laundering, not "exporting"!

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13 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. 

The journalist who wrote the OP DID report that he was convicted of money laundering!

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11 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

that is exactly the question here.

if thailand is jailing foreigners (for life !!) for tax offenses / money laundering

made abroad, it puts all investors / retirees in thailand in real life danger !!

if someone from your home country / any other country you worked at, want to revenge you for some reason, and he has connection, all he or she need to do is arrange a letter from law authorities in your country, and thai authorities will be more than happy to throw you in jail and confiscate all your assets !!

very big danger for all foreigners in thailand !

"...thai authorities will be more than happy to throw you in jail and confiscate all your assets !!"

Nonsense, no danger of that at all unless a court secures a legitimate conviction, as happened in this case

 

 

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11 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Perhaps it would have been simpler if the Thai authorities had simply charged the guy with being a farang "unusually wealthy" in Thailand...  That is a crime here, right???  :ninja:

No, being unusually wealthy is not a crime, per se.  Being unusually wealthy can lead to an investigation, though, that could result in charges that are legitimate.

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10 hours ago, NanLaew said:

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. 

Not with the Dutch government's involvement in instigating the prosecution!

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3 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

Considering that Holland has plenty of coffeeshops where weed is legal, it's hard to believe that the Supreme Court ruled that his story, that he sold four coffeeshops can't be true, because that wouldn't generate that much money.

 

  I'm wondering how much these people know about prices of houses in Holland? It couldn't be used to his defense, they just swapped it under the carpet.

 

  Then there's a big question mark. Did the court have access to his bank accounts? That would explain all.

 

And why does he have to be in a Thai prison? Who else gets 70 years for money laundering?

Very easy to get that sentence, he was charged with multiple counts of money laundering each of which carries an individual sentence, not just one count,

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THIS case is really amazing and scary, makes me think

twice and thrice if i want to visit thailand even as a

tourist.

even if this guy was guilty in money laundry in his country, 20 years

jail sentence, in his age, is like a death sentence.

and if thai authorities are so concern about money laundry, why won;t

they punish also the banks involved? acctually it is impossible

to transfer from holland such large amounts of money without

the proper tax documents. very very strange and suspicious story.

should be famous all over the world, so people will be carefull when

investing in the LOS

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6 hours ago, LaoPo said:

 

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

 

 

 

i am sure he had financial team working for him in holland.

you simply can't make those amounts of money in europe without a good accontant.

and you simply can't "take" such amount in cash; it must go threw the banks

who also check the source of money,

but than yeh. he came to thailand and propably could not imagine the levels

of corruption  he will encounter.

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8 hours ago, Paul944 said:

 

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.

You're forgetting about the 20 million Euro that he is being paid by his own government.

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The biggest mistake of his life was to use a Thai bank account for his business. It doesnt matter if he sells legal drugs in Holland , or if he sell cars. The money from customers was transfered to Thailand. Millions of baht. A BIG mistake. If he had kept the money in Holland and paid his taxes, he would still be a wealthy man.

This is greed, and he ssked for it.

Sent from my SM-J610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

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Article in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf which says that van Laarhoven could be back in Holland in a few weeks.

 

**** This is the Google translated  (Dutch to English) article ****

 

THE HAGUE - In justice circles it is pointed out that former coffee shop owner Johan van Laarhoven will be handed over to the Netherlands within a few weeks to serve his sentence.

 

Initiates from The Hague expect that attempts to get the Dutchman extradited will be successful in the short term. Yesterday, the Thai Supreme Court sentenced the Dutchman to 75 years in prison, 20 of which he must serve.

 

The sentence of 58-year-old Van Laarhoven has become irrevocable as a result of that ruling. There is no higher court in Thailand. The Tilburger earned millions with coffee shops in Brabant. He has laundered them, is the verdict.

The OM in the Netherlands asked Thai colleagues in 2014 for help in a case to Van Laarhoven. That request for help resulted in a private investigation by the Thai police. Van Laarhoven, who was in Thailand, then picked it up himself.

Minister of Justice and Security Grapperhaus went to Thailand on Friday to talk to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha about extraditing the former coffee shop boss to the Netherlands. The CDA minister did so following the insistence of the Second Chamber and a critical report from the ombudsman. The Netherlands would have dropped stitches, because the Public Prosecution Service could have known that Thailand Van Laarhoven would go to trial after the request for help, and drug traffickers are quite the cigar in that country and are often imprisoned in poor conditions. During his visit to Thailand, Grapperhaus also said that the OM had been wrong.

The ruling of the Thai Supreme Court makes it possible to conclude the talks about transfer to the Netherlands, because the trial has ended. Van Laarhoven can now submit a request to serve his sentence in the Netherlands. The ministry does not want to let you know anything about the progress of discussions about this.

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15 hours 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 ?

 

It is not an issue of why lie, it is a simple issue of not showing off!  At some point you may upset or bother somebody who will then take some negative action against you.  In this case, I think the Dutch were offended and therefore got very mean against the guy and invoked the Thai end of things.  Always better to keep a lower profile

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On 8/27/2019 at 8:41 PM, 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.

 

 

 

The big marijuana busts relating to exports from Thailand in recent years seem to have been mainly weed imported from Laos for re-export. I don’t think the local processing of what used to be known as Thai sticks exists any more on a commercial scale. Like the processing of opium and production of meth I think most of it moved over the borders long ago.

 

Morocco supplies Europe with illegal weed and Mexico supplies North America, while there are now a growing number of legal sources in the West. I don’t think Thailand has a meaningful role in the global marijuana business today, as it is not competitive as a producer or a re-exporter to the main markets. Perhaps that will eventually change if legalization goes beyond production of oil capsules for a handful of registered patients who are subject to police harassment. Reviving the Thai sticks industry and opening up legal weed tourism would generate a lot of forex earnings but the police would resist giving up their own control of the domestic trade and the money earned from selling weed to backpackers and then arresting them and getting their parents to wire out B30,000 to drop charges.

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