Thai court sentences Dutch national to 103 years in jail

[Time Traveller]

" As part of that investigation, officials were given the green light to sequester property and cash amounting to some €24m, much of which they believe had been invested in Thailand." ---

So someone ends up with a lot of illegally acquired money? How is that any better than being the criminal?

[SOTIRIOS]

...and the money will go where.....

...never heard of 1 Baht or ANY assets being seized from Thai criminals....

...and even when charged with murder they get out on bail...

...wife testified against him.....she will get bail....and share in the spoils....???

....many details omitted....

[NCC1701A]

note to self. the next time I make 24 million Euros and don't pay taxes, change my name and get new passport.

[strapper1]

He would have got off alot easier with murder,torture,rape. Sometimes I just don't get it! tit

[mogo51]

The drug business in Thailand is very murky to say the least, with billions of baht in drugs money being

moved around and major part of it being laundered to become legit money,

Many powerful figure are involved in this illicit trade, all the WAY TO THE TOP, if you know wa' I mean....

it's up to the luck really, if your numbers are up and someone decide that this is it for you, that you done,

this business is controlled and managed like any other business by those powerful people, they please

themselves who to work wit and cooperate and who's to ignore, in the case of this Dutch guy, well, his

numbers were up, he should have gone out while the going was good, greed is the reason many people

end up either dead or in jail....

I wonder what is your source of information on this? Or is it that well known media 'bar bulls''t'

[retarius]

Staggering penalty for laundering profits from his own business ie evading tax. It shows where the authorities put their priorities, ie money as opposed to violence, rape, murder etc.

[kiwikeith]

30 years in the drug trade,instead of laundering millions of Euros he should have stopped years ago while he was ahead!

24 million Euros how much does a crook want?

Money is addictive.

I wonder how many years he would have got for card skimming???

Edited November 11, 2015 by kiwikeith

[MeHere]

I don't understand this case at all... He did everything legal in his homeland where his business is, came here and did what wrong??? The Dutch government charged him and he's doing time here??? It just doesn't make sense at all :-S

[SoFarAndNear]

There must be a lot more facts then the newspapers write. Why for example did his wife got 12 years? Even the DSI guy with the billions of Baht in his house only got 10 years.

This is not just about money. They probably found evidence or witnesses who testified that he still ran his Marijuana business out of Thailand. And we all know that drug related stuff here brings you decades behind the bars....

[robblok]

As far as what I can read in the Dutch press they never wanted him arrested and trialed in Thailand. They just wanted him in question with the money laundering. It was not about the profits of his legal "coffee shops". They wanted him for money laundering and tax evasion, they are not happy Thailand trialed him at all.

Too bad for the guy this should not have happened.

[anto]

HE MUST HAVE EVADED HIS FULL TAX LIBALITY IN THE N.L. .To acquire E24M ,it must have been more than Coffee shops he had .

[thai006]

no pitty for people like that

[kennypowers]

Completely misleading article headline and misguided comments. He ran a legal business in Holland. He is not a "criminal drug dealer". There was a case built against him regarding tax evasion, for which he should have been brought home to address on Dutch soil. Instead, the Dutch authorities have shamefully allowed the Thai police to get their fingers in the pie and misconstrue the case; citing him as a drug dealer laundering money in Thailand, and no doubt made a packet in the process.

[Andaman Al]

Well by extraditing him nobody here could have claimed the cash and assets. I can only assume that the defence lawyers were totally stoned themselves to allow this to happen. If all is as said then this is a complete travesty. The guy was legal, so was his business, did he evade tax or did he avoid it, there is a HUGE legal difference, one is legal the other is not. If tax authorities wanted to investigate him that is all that was required. I do not think we have heard the last of this, once public opinion gets going, at least I hope for him and his families sake anyway.

For all of you spouting "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" you belong with the hang em high brigade. There is nothing in the details of the case that suggest criminal activity. he ran the coffee shops in Holland NOT Thailand. I hope a Dutch Lawyer picks this up and takes up his case.

[LannaGuy]

103 years? you get bail even for murder here! what a Topsy Turvy place Thailand is

very sorry for the guy and Thailand is getting very dangerous indeed

[A Skeptic]

What laws did he break in Thailand? There is no mention of any transgression in either of the press stories. Was He selling drugs here? It does nor state so.

[Shawn0001]

Humnnnnn interesting process. I wonder if he was ????? oh I don't know ????? let's say - Thai - would he be out on bail?

You mean like his wife, who isn't out on bail?

[Langsuan Man]

note to self. the next time I make 24 million Euros and don't pay taxes, change my name and get new passport.

I guess you missed this part:

“It is completely incomprehensible that he earned his money and paid tax in a decent way in the Netherlands

[Shawn0001]

What laws did he break in Thailand? There is no mention of any transgression in either of the press stories. Was He selling drugs here? It does nor state so.

He was laundering money, as it does state in both stories, money laundering is a crime in Thailand as in most countries.

[Briggsy]

What laws did he break in Thailand? There is no mention of any transgression in either of the press stories. Was He selling drugs here? It does nor state so.

One of the ways to be convicted of money laundering is "to possess the proceeds of one's own crime".

He brought 24 million Euros to Thailand. As far as I can see, the Thai court judged that this was the proceeds of one's own crime. The article does not state what crime was supposed to have been committed.

A) Tax evasion in Holland

Selling marijuana in Holland

C) Unspecified.

If it was A, then he arguably should have been extradited

If it was B, then that is a very dubious application of the law.

If it was C, then he should not have been convicted.

My view is that once the Thai police realised how much this guy had brought in assets to Thailand, then they absolutely had to find a way to get hold of it. I mean 24 million Euros. What was he thinking, bringing it to Thailand!!!

[micmichd]

Money Laundering?

Would it also be money laundering if I get scammed to the disadvantage of a Thai family with the help of European authorities?

[bananafish]

no pitty for people like that

For people who don't read?

[Shawn0001]

These Thai courts are corrupt to the core !

These Thais get around like GANGUS KARN and no wonder they think they can throw there weight around the Legal Punishments for them are nothing major. There treated like children in the court system in a day care facility... Oh darling get it on you bib love lol

While falang are hang out to dry by some old Thai that hates foriegners..... We all know nothing will ever change here

The big PM has his own ways and agendas

I think you mean Genghis Khan. And the soft sentences are not for all Thai's, they are for the privillaged, remeber the old couple caught picking mushrooms senteced to 15 years for "illegal logging"? That was hardly a sentence I would liken to wiping a babys bib!

[AlphMichaels]

There's a lot not shared in the media about this case. He got on the wrong side of someone back home. Either way he'll likely earn extradition back to the Netherlands in the coming weeks/months and suffer little here. His wife..., not sure how that will shake out. But in the end his property and possessions are already toast. He'll never retrieve them.

[bananafish]

I'm assuming he was siphoning income from his coffee shops into a Thai bank in an effort to hide it from NL authorities.

Thai courts just looked at it as using Thai bank to sell drugs.

It looks like at no point has anyone involved thought anything through.

[Bernard Flint]

Sure this is a guy off Facebook, who spoke bad about thais all the time, and boasted how rich he was.

[nev]

It says he has been living in Thailand since 2008, maybe he was still running his business in Holland from here, maybe the last 7 years he has been avoiding paying off the right people.

[Jimbo2014]

This is a fairly cut and dry case. If you read the dutch newspapers the Dutch authorities had only asked the Thai government for confirmation of his Thai Bank accounts (means testing against income). There was no mention of drug trafficking charges or money laundering. Thai authorities then took it upon themselves to seize over 100 million baht in assets and pillage his four properties for spares and sundries. So its not very different from many other cases. He was an easy target, had assets worth pillaging and quickly found himself on the raw end of the Thai "justice" system.

Lesson: dont leave yourself vulnerable or a target in Thailand.

[JarekN]

Should have handled it differently, 24 mil is a lot of money, accidents happen and he could have made a lot of people disappear to make sure this case goes no where...

[nev]

I would like to know what has happened to the seized assets, I am sure there is a whole new batch of crimes happening with the assets seized that will not see the light of day.