The Public Prosecution Service demands a prison sentence of 7 years against a 33-year-old suspect from the municipality of De Friese Meren. He is seen as the person with the largest role in the extensive criminal investigation Parra, which involves among other things the printing of counterfeit banknotes, defrauding companies, and money laundering. “This suspect had an important, initiating, and guiding role in this criminal network,” said the public prosecutor today during the justification of the sentence demand in the court in Arnhem. “There is no room for any other type of punishment than an unconditional prison sentence.”
Spread over ten court days, a total of eight suspects are currently on trial in Arnhem. According to the Public Prosecution Service, they were part of a criminal network that was engaged in committing various criminal offenses.
In a house in Brasschaat, Belgium, cutting machines, holograms, uncut banknotes, and printers (in short, all the necessities to make counterfeit money) were found in July 2020. The money press was running at full speed when the police executed a raid at the request of the Netherlands. It involved (fake) notes of 100, 50, 20, and 10 euros, but there were also American dollars among them.
The suspect who had to account for himself today was caught red-handed by the Belgian police during this raid. Ultimately, it was decided to continue the entire criminal investigation in the Netherlands. During various searches (including in Deventer, Zaltbommel, and Zutphen), it became clear that there was an extensive network involved in the entire chain: from setting up a production line to producing counterfeit banknotes, through advertising to distribution.
The Public Prosecution Service today stated: “The way in which the suspects were involved in the production and trade of counterfeit money was very professional. There was a real ‘Counterfeit Money BV’, with a headquarters in Belgium and branches in the Netherlands.”
In the eyes of the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect had a different ‘earning model’ prior to the above-mentioned facts: large-scale fraud against companies. Together with others, he set up ‘imitation companies’ that resembled existing companies: logos and stamps were forged, websites were built, and even passports of directors of existing companies were falsified. Registrations and modifications with the Chamber of Commerce were also made.
The affected companies were under the impression that they were dealing with a bona fide company. Subsequently, these companies were defrauded of large sums of goods and money: in total, it involves damage of about half a million euros at six companies.
Finally, money laundering is also charged against this suspect: he is accused of laundering gold and goods.
In addition to the prison sentence, the Public Prosecution Service demands that the suspect pay over 750,000 euros in illegally obtained benefits to the state.
The investigation, known as Parra, involves a substantial file of over 20,000 pages. The police have conducted extensive investigations into seized data carriers, such as phones. From this investigation, the network and the roles of the interrelated suspects emerged, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
Of the eight suspects, sentences have already been pronounced for four others in previous court days: in those earlier cases, the Public Prosecution Service demanded 48 months (of which 8 conditionally), 5 years, and a prison sentence of 24 months against two suspects.
