A number of property executives involved in a massive development fraud case in the Netherlands were given tougher prison sentences by Amsterdam’s appeal court on Friday.
A number of property executives involved in a massive development fraud case in the Netherlands were given tougher prison sentences by Amsterdam’s appeal court on Friday.
Main suspect Jan van Vlijmen was sentenced to seven years in jail – almost double the four-year sentence he was given at the original trial. Van Vlijmen, who worked for Dutch investment firm Bouwfonds at the time of the fraud, was found guilty of money laundering, fraud, bribery and membership of a criminal organisation.
Property developers, accountants, notaries and pension fund officials were among the 12 men whose sentences were up for review.
The scandal was nicknamed the Klimop or Ivy case because of the number of branches it had and the difficulty in eradicating it.
The case centred on the sale and development of property by electronics group Philips' pension fund and developer Bouwfonds and represents the ‘biggest case’ in the history of the Fiod-ECD economic crime investigation department.
The scandal is estimated to have cost the pension fund and property developer up to €250m, of which €141m has been clawed back in out of court settlements and other actions.
The scandal, which dates back to 1995, came to light in 2007 when it emerged pension fund bosses had been taking bribes in return for passing on confidential information. They had also bought and sold property at below the market rates.
