Despite their pleas, the four Chinese suspects of a major money laundering operation from a Vennep business premises will remain in custody longer. This became apparent yesterday during the third preparatory hearing in the Amsterdam court.
The four are suspected of laundering tens of millions of euros between 2015 and 2023, which, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), were earned through drug trafficking. Tens of kilos of MDMA and hundreds of kilos of sodium salt and BMK glycidic acid were found in the premises of parcel delivery service NL Express on Pesetaweg in April last year. The last two are important raw materials for ecstasy and speed.
NL Express is led by 42-year-old J., who, like three other suspects in the case Highlands appeared in court yesterday. They are suspected of participation in a criminal organization, possession of weapons, possession of drugs and plans for drug smuggling. NL Express is also being tried, as is J.’s other company MyEUShop: an online supermarket for Chinese products.
“If I’m no longer alive, that’s not good news for this case”
That online supermarket ‘has now been standing still for five months’, J. told the court yesterday. His words were translated by an interpreter, who, due to the unexpected cancellation of another interpreter, translated all four suspects and therefore worked overtime. “And NL Express may still be around for another month. I am preparing for bankruptcy, but that is difficult because I am stuck.”
Ado den Haag
In 2017, football club ADO rented The Hague a skybox to NL Express. The club was then owned by a Chinese owner, Wang Hui. “We naturally support our own people. It would be nice if a Chinese person would also come and play football here in the future,” then NL Express director Alex Kan told the news platform of the Hague club at the time.
While J. focuses mainly on the consequences for his companies, suspects T., L. and Y. mainly use their families to convince the judge to release them. Y. (40) claims to be ill himself, although it is not entirely clear whether he has a liver tumor or inflamed heart muscle. “But if I’m no longer alive, that’s not good news for this case.”
“My kids say daddy is a bad guy”
Y. is the only one of the four without a place of residence in the Netherlands. He lives with his wife and children in the Hungarian capital Budapest. This would have made Y. an important lynchpin in the money laundering operation: according to the FIOD Large sums of cash were regularly transported by road from Nieuw-Vennep to Budapest.
“My children say that their daddy is a bad guy,” says 54-year-old T., the eldest of the couple. The youngest, 38-year-old L., states that he has only seen his child once since his arrest in April last year. Like co-suspects T. and Y., he only speaks Chinese, which poses practical barriers in prison. “Due to the language barrier, it has not been possible to see them more often.”
They promise the court in advance that – if it agrees to release – they will adhere to all conditions. “If necessary, he will report to the Hungarian police every day,” Y.’s lawyer Coomans tries to convince the court.
Flight hazard
“It is not good news for you,” the court addresses the suspects after a fifteen-minute suspension. “You will all remain in custody, at least until the next hearing.” According to the court – contrary to what the lawyers claim – there is indeed a risk of flight in Y.’s case. “You previously wanted to go to China with your family.”
And although they have not yet been found guilty, the court believes that – partly due to the lack of regular work – they will not earn their living in a legal way.
The next hearing is on March 22. The substantive hearing is currently scheduled for September, but because the lawyers want to hear a laundry list of witnesses from home and abroad, that schedule is probably too optimistic.