The court convicts a 30-year-old man from Doetinchem for laundering a sum of money, gold bars, a Rolex, and a Mercedes. The man receives an 8-month prison sentence, of which 4 months are conditional.
On August 31, 2022, the police found an amount of 2,500 euros under the kitchen extractor hood in the mans home. They also found a Mercedes parked in front of the door. In a safe was an amount of 86 thousand euros, as well as three gold bars and a Rolex watch. The man stated that the amounts of money, the Mercedes, multiple gold bars, and the Rolex belonged to him.
According to the man, he had earned everything honestly with his own business. From January 2020 until August 31, 2022, the police investigated the mans income and expenses. The man paid almost everything in cash, such as the purchase of the Mercedes, the deposit for a holiday home, payments for car maintenance, the purchase of (luxury) goods, and living expenses. That was much more than the man earned with his business. The court rules that it cannot be otherwise than that there is an illegal money flow with which the goods were paid and the money was earned.
Concealing origin of goods
The man had registered the Mercedes in the name of another person. The man also kept an amount of money, multiple gold bars, and a Rolex in a safe registered in his mothers name. The court rules that the man concealed the origin of these goods. He did not say who the rightful owner of these items was, or who purchased and possessed the items.
Different sentence than demand
The public prosecutor demanded a conditional prison sentence of 4 months and a community service order of 240 hours. The court does not find this sentence appropriate. The man was guilty of money laundering for more than 2.5 years. Over a longer period, he spent money derived from criminal activities on (among other things) luxury goods, living expenses, and various trips.
The court notes that there was a violation of the reasonable time limit, but finds that this limit was partly not met due to the late submission of documents and the mans disorganized administration. It took the police a lot of time to obtain documents and to organize and interpret the documents provided by the man. If he had submitted documents faster, the case could have been resolved earlier.
Because of the undermining nature of the offense and the amount of money laundered, the court finds only a prison sentence appropriate. Unlike the public prosecutor, the court sees no reason in the exceeding of the time limit and the mans age to impose only a community service order unconditionally. This does not do justice to the seriousness of the offense. However, the court sees reason in the mentioned circumstances to impose the prison sentence partly conditionally. That conditional part of 4 months also serves as a proverbial stick behind the door for the man.
Confiscation
The court orders the man to repay nearly 102 thousand euros to the state. This amount was earned by the man through his criminal activities.