The court will decide on Thursday about the accusations against Frits van Eerd (58) from Heeswijk-Dinther. The former Jumbo boss is suspected of money laundering, bribery and tampering with sponsor contracts. Because the public prosecutor has requested two years in prison, Van Eerd is therefore a prison sentence above the head. That applies even more to car dealer Theo E. from Drenthe, the other suspect in this case.
Frits and Theo have known each other from the motocross world for about 25 years. Both crazy about racing. Jumbo sponsored various racing teams, also that of Theo E. but Theo has a dark side. He rented cars to drug criminals.
A part of the sponsor money from Jumbo from Veghel let Theo E. move on to a Frisian drug smuggler. The police got a breath of air and Theo was arrested in 2014. In his network, the police also met Frits van Eerd: the boss of the Jumbo. Van Eerd was even a short suspect.
The management of Jumbo shocked and broke all contacts with E. and also paid the latest accounts. But after a while, Frits and Theo got contact again, despite all the warnings. From now on Frits kept Theo outside the books. While the Veghel entrepreneurial family knew nothing, the police listened and watched. And there was a new investigation.
Corruption
In 2017, E. offered two cross bikes. “That’s a nice gift !!” Van Eerd responded via WhatsApp. Those words alerted the police and the judiciary. There was more to Frits’s hobby workshop along the canal in Veghel. Tool boxes, a trailer, even more motorbikes, cars and cleaning agent. E. gave a gift in exchange for a sponsorship deal, say the police and the judiciary. They see it as a bribery of Frits. A case of corruption.
“This has been purely a private issue,” Van Eerd said in court at the end of June. “I didn’t get anything from Mr. E., I bought everything from Mr. E..” And there was nothing in return, Van Eerd emphasized. Theo E. denied that he brought from Eerd. “I just think that man is not to buy.”
Fake invoices
Yet the police and the judiciary saw a criminal gathering. For example, a motorcycle team was sponsored by Jumbo. The invoice stated 335,000 euros in sponsor money. But in reality that was only 230,000 euros. More than a barrel secretly went to E., who made it flow back to Van Eerd, also with things.
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Banknotes
And then there were suspicious money finds at Van Eerd. More than four tons. Hidden in a Jumbotas in a fridge, among other things. There were also 104 notes of 500 euros among all that cash money. That is a sign of money laundering, according to the OM.
Van Eerd explained that he has been setting up cars, motorbikes and parts in cash for years, as a collector. A pile of witnesses supported his lecture. But the OM finds that unreliable. The money in his villa was for emergency situations. “If something goes wrong, I have something that I can help with serious criminals to stay away from my family,” Van Eerd said.
The contacts between Frits and Theo lasted about five years. Until the raids on September 13, 2022. And then they saw each other again in court almost three years later.
Against Frits van Eerd, the OM demanded two years in prison, of which eight months were conditional for a total of three crimes. Theo E. (61) heard 4 years demanding seven crimes, including tax and mortgage fraud. E. is currently his sentence for the (money laundering) case from 2014.
Van Eerd said he regretted one thing during his process. “That dealing with Theo, that has been a very big mistake by mine. That is why I am here.” Why Van Eerd still kept in touch with the car dealer from Drenthe has never been clarified. The judge may say something about it.
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