News report | 24-12-2025 | 10:00
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has issued penalties in a fraud case involving large sums of money being siphoned off and involving Dutch and foreign companies. The money originated from a foreign company involved in large projects. Various involved companies and Dutch directors of those companies must pay fines totaling 3,400,000 euros. Additionally, criminally obtained assets amounting to 82,132,148 euros are confiscated.
The FIOD initiated a criminal investigation under the leadership of the Functional Public Prosecutors Office following an investigation by the Tax Authorities into the administration of a Dutch company. The Functional Public Prosecutors Office found that Dutch companies were allegedly used to purchase goods and services worldwide for projects of the foreign multinational. In some cases, backdated contracts were used as a basis for transferring funds, which led to forgery.
Money Flows
The false documents were used between 2006 and 2009. This covered money flows to, among others, Swiss bank accounts. Dutch companies from various parts of the country were involved and received several million euros in fees. Approximately 111 million US dollars ended up at a foundation. This amount was invested by the foundation in foreign securities. The Functional Public Prosecutors Office has placed a seizure on these securities.
Fraud Scheme
Investigation revealed that a step-by-step plan was drawn up for setting up part of this construction. It included instructions on how bank accounts and transactions should be managed. Additionally, according to the OM, secret agreements were made about the distribution of proceeds. The OM considers it especially serious that the involved parties acted so deliberately to commit criminal offenses.
Quick Result
The OM finds it important that clarity comes for all involved after a long time.
The criminal offenses date back a long time. The main suspects are now elderly, some suffer from serious health problems, several involved have ceased their activities, and some have passed away. A court process could take many more years. The Functional Public Prosecutors Office has decided to settle the case extrajudicially by imposing penalties on four natural persons and three legal entities. Fines totaling 3,400,000 euros have been imposed.
As part of the agreements regarding the extrajudicial settlement of the criminal case, the foundation has waived the proceeds from the sale of the foreign securities and has agreed with several suspects to waive their proceeds from these transactions. In total, this concerns an amount of 82,132,148 euros. By settling the case now through a penalty order, criminal assets are confiscated, justice is served for criminal behavior, and – due to the circumstances described above – the chance of recurrence is small.