The tax investigation service FIOD arrested two employees of shipbuilder Damen Shipyards on Tuesday morning and raided various Damen offices and staff homes. The company and the individuals are suspected of “violating and knowingly and intentionally circumventing the sanctions against Russia from autumn 2022”, the agency announced on Wednesday known.
The FIOD raided, among other things, the head office in Gorinchem and the homes of major shareholder and chairman of the board Kommer Damen and his son Arnout Damen, the current chairman of the board. The FIOD also raided the home of former chairman René Berkvens.
The timing is extremely striking. Last week, on November 24, the criminal hearing against Damen started in the court in Zwolle. The largest shipbuilder in the Netherlands, also an important supplier to defense, is on trial for bribery and forgery in the sale of ships in several countries. Damen must also answer for supplying a number of parts for so-called crab catching ships to Russia, despite sanctions.
This week’s raid revolves around this issue. The TV show News hour revealed exactly a year ago that despite Western sanctions, shipyards in Russia still had crucial Damen parts at their disposal for the construction of fishing vessels. One of the yards that build the crab catchers is the ‘Nobel Brothers’ yard, which is owned by the arms manufacturer Kalashnikov.
According to Damen, it has severed all operational ties with its subsidiary Damen Engineering in St. Petersburg after the raid in Ukraine. Yet parts from the shipbuilder ended up in twenty fishing vessels designed by Damen. According to Nieuwsuur, it involved hundreds of parts. The TV program used customs data to determine that after the sanctions came into effect, the export of the parts suddenly went through newly established companies in Turkey and China.
Tougher approach
Opposite NRC Damen downplayed the suspicion of sanctions evasion. It would only be a “single tap” that went directly from Damen to Russia. The large-scale raid shows that the Public Prosecution Service has expanded that suspicion. The FIOD suspects that the company “delivered goods to circumvention countries after the European sanctions came into effect in February 2022, after which the goods ended up in Russia.”
Damen said in a response that it had “previously conducted extensive research” into the deliveries. The findings have been shared with customs. “Damen emphasizes once again that it has always acted in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.”
The Public Prosecution Service wants to tackle sanction evasion more seriously. Chief public prosecutor Michiel Zwinkels announced last November in a Nieuwsuur broadcast that the Public Prosecution Service would benefit from higher penalties for sanction evasion. In the Netherlands, this carries a prison sentence of up to six years. A higher maximum sentence gives the Public Prosecution Service more options to deploy investigative resources, according to Zwinkels. For example, a home can only be tapped if the maximum sentence is eight years.
NEW: Give this item as a gift
As an NRC subscriber you can subscribe every month 10 items give as a gift to someone without an NRC subscription. The recipient can read the article directly, without a paywall.
Why you can trust NRC