Thread: Dutchman Johan van Laarhoven Get’s 103 Year Sentence from Thai Court

BANGKOK – Johan van Laarhoven a Dutch national who founded cannabis cafes in Brabant has been jailed for 103 years by a court in Bangkok for money laundering.
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Johan van Laarhoven, 55, will have to spend 20 years in jail because the 43 sentences can be served concurrently, the court found him guilty of laundering millions of euros in cash earned via his four cafes in Den Bosch and Tilburg.



Van Laarhoven was arrested in Thailand in 2014 along with his Thai wife. He moved to Pattaya in 2008 after 30 years in the soft drugs trade. His wife, Tukta, has been jailed for 12 years for her role in the case.
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The arrest was made after Dutch public prosecution officials asked colleagues in Thailand for their help. They had been investigating Van Laarhoven’s company The Grass Company since 2011. 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.
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A Dutch justice official told reporters in January they had not asked the Thai authorities to arrest Van Laarhoven and were only after information. ‘The arrest was their own decision,’ a spokesman said. Tax Van Laaren’s older brother Frans, who is also suspected of money laundering in the Netherlands, told the NRC that the Thai court has ignored evidence showing that tax was paid on every euro earned in the coffee shops.
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‘He could not be prosecuted in the Netherlands and so he has been left to Thailand,’ he said. ‘My brother feels he has been abandoned by the Dutch political system and the media.’
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According to tauthorities, at least 10 of the Netherlands’ big cannabis cafe entrepreneurs have interests in Thailand, including Henk de Vries, founder of the Bulldog chain.

Dutchman Johan van Laarhoven Get?s 103 Year Sentence from Thai Court | Chiang Rai Times English Language Newspaper

Unlucky boy.

Tax Van Laaren

who is also suspected of money laundering in the Netherlands .....soft drugs trade .... laundering millions of euros in cash

Non payment off Dutch taxes or Thai taxes, seems a tad harsh.

Don't Starbucks and Amazon avoid tax, along with anyone else that can? Poor bugger

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Non payment off Dutch taxes

Originally Posted by misskit

the Thai court has ignored evidence showing that tax was paid on every euro earned in the coffee shops.

Nope. He paid tax in the Netherlands.

According to his brother who is apparently also under suspicion / investigation.

Strange case regardless.

Originally Posted by misskit

officials were given the green light to sequester property and cash

crimes have motives

Originally Posted by bobo746

Unlucky boy.

Very unlucky in-deeded !!

Very heavy sentence for selling 'soft drugs'... he might've been better off selling Meth... (before you pounce, NOT condoning selling meth guys) just making a point..

I wonder why he moved to a country - renowned for it's heavy-handed application of 'justice' regarding drugs... (however soft they may be)...

Oh well, I trust the boys in brown will money launder the 24 million squid back to it's rightful place... (into their grubby little hands)...

^ I read it that he was done for 'money laundering'.

^ My bad... still seems excessive all the same...

Originally Posted by NZdick1983

My bad... still seems excessive all the same...

It all depends who he was money laundering for etc.

If I sell heroin I commit an offence. If I sell heroin and use the proceeds to buy a house does that make my criminality any worse? What about if I sold heroin and channelled the money through a number of bank accounts before buying property abroad? People who sell drugs for money are already sentenced more harshly than those who give drugs away to friends. Given that anyone who receives money for selling drugs is sooner or later going to spend it should they be penalised again for doing so?
That is one of the conundrums surrounding the money-laundering legislation and faced by prosecutors when deciding whether to indict a defendant with a money-laundering offence in addition to a “substantive offence”. An even more pressing problem is: when is it appropriate to accept guilty pleas to the substantive offence only, and when should the Crown seek a verdict on any associated money laundering?
Some assistance on this point has recently been given in the case of R v Thomas Joseph Carroll [2011] 1 Cr App R (S) 119: the Appellant and his wife ran a very sophisticated prostitution ring in Ireland and Northern Ireland from their flat in Wales. Their network controlled 35 brothels and had an income of over €1.5m over three years. Evidence linked him to properties in Bulgaria, South Africa and in the UK.
He pleaded guilty to conspiring to control prostitution and conspiring to launder money. The Court of Appeal upheld the judge’s sentence of two years imprisonment for money laundering – imposed consecutively to the five year sentence for controlling prostitution
The court didn’t purport to lay down general guidance but in explaining its reasons for dismissing the appeal it said that the relatively sophisticated channelling and disposition of the money, and the amount of money that was diverted out of Ireland where it had been earned, and then partly diverted out of the UK, added significantly to the overall culpability of the enterprise and therefore justified the consecutive sentence.
In a run-of-the mill case it is still likely that adding a money laundering count will not increase the sentence passed and therefore is unlikely to be in the public interest. However, Carroll is useful to prosecutors because it supports the proposition that where there is evidence of sophisticated money-laundering, that genuinely increases the criminality, a consecutive sentence is appropriate.

Money laundering ? consecutive sentences

It occurs to me that the motive in this prosecution and absurd sentence is in fact to coerce the Dutchman and his family here to disgorge what the Thai believe to be considerable sums of money.

Just another shakedown really. Scarcely surprising some here have missed the point.

A tad confusing this case.

So he paid his Tax at home on his legal business I gather ?

But he is getting Banged up for Money laundering in Thailand ?

I'm missing something here right. ?

Has he moved some money to Thailand without paying tax on it at home ?

This would be money laundering.

Originally Posted by misskit

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.

I'm sure that the Thai lads were into part of this like a pig into shit

^ Cynical buggers!! the boys in brown are doing the lord's good work innit..

Making right all the wrongs of the world...

Hallelujah!!

Thais....above the world

^
Especially if you have made the money in the Drug game.

So the Thais new nothing about this Dutchman at all, in fact he was not wanted in Thailand, lead a quiet life, then hey presto the Dutch tell the Thai Police that this man is rich. Suddenly he becomes a wanted man, the boys in brown seek a way to rob him, all those lovely Euros, free for Thai police. It's their reward for doing their job. Well up until they got the tip off they didn't know he existed.
Moral of the story, don't bring money to Thailand.

^ Tisk tisk... the cynicism is contagious (like my flue)... take 3 cloves of garlic every 3 hours... if symptoms persist, please see a Dr.

an interesting case, and surely there is more to it

ironically he might end up OK, he is not going to do the 20 years, we all know that

next year he will be out, paid his dues to men of influence, and the Dutch will forget the case as they think he is behind bars for 20 years

case solved,

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

surely there is more to it

No doubt. From the news article I can't figure out what he did. Money laundering? Makes no sense.