The 37-year-old Frans W. from Waspik has admitted before the court in Breda that as a captain of the army he has defrauded the Ministry of Defense for years. He thus earned almost six tons. Tears welled up in his eyes on Tuesday morning as he turned and spoke to several former colleagues in the room. The public prosecutor called him a very brutal con man and demanded 3 years in prison.
Frans W. would have ordered materials on behalf of the Ministry of Defense, which in reality were worth much less. In addition, the money that Defense paid ended up on the account of a made-up company and thus via the account of the man from Waspik. It concerned parts of the bushmaster, an armored wheeled vehicle that is deployed in Afghanistan and Mali, among other places.
In June 2020, Frans was arrested and detained for two days. According to the justice system, it has also been shown that he has stolen or falsified data from colleagues, including a female soldier from Eindhoven Air Base. With the illegally earned money, Frans dealt with financial problems and bought a house and a car. In addition, 30,000 euros in cash was found in a duffel bag in his house.
Until the case, Frans had always invoked his right to remain silent. During the treatment he showed remorse and soon the monkey came out of the sleeve. His personal situation was plagued by financial worries for a long time, he said, somewhat embarrassed and looking straight ahead.
He showed real emotion when he addressed some ex-colleagues who attended the hearing: “I am terribly sorry for what I have done to you. I have worked in the army for thirteen years and know that you must be able to trust everyone there blindly. I am ashamed me terribly.”
Frans was a captain at the Ministry of Defense and he had an important position in a logistics army unit. This served him well when the financial problems for him and his family piled up about seven years ago. “I wanted to solve it by selling goods and keeping the money. It was quite easy, but it was very stupid. I prefer to undo everything. What a stupid idiot I am,” he stammered.
Frans said he panicked when the tax authorities knocked on his door. If the tax authorities had not taken action, according to him his practices would not have come to an end.
His wife (33) and sister-in-law (41) were also on trial on Tuesday. Frans W. used his wife’s registration with the Chamber of Commerce to set up a company. Through this company he was able to send false invoices to the Ministry of Defense and have them paid. His wife, with whom he has children aged ten and thirteen, knew nothing about it, according to him. “She was not interested in financial matters, they were always with me,” Frans clarified. His wife followed him blindly.
He also dragged his sister-in-law into his troubles. He told her that she could earn some money if he could have money deposited into her account. The woman, who is struggling with debts, found his explanation plausible. “I had no knowledge of business. Very naive in retrospect, but I was in good faith,” claimed the Waspikse. Among other things, she was demanded a community service of 120 hours; against the wife of F. a community service of 240 hours. Justice considers them complicit.