Jumbo boss Frits van Eerd has been detained for a few days as a suspect in a money laundering case, according to sources. But what does it mean for Jumbo if their CEO is indeed involved in such money laundering practices? In any case, supermarket expert Paul Moers finds the reaction of Jumbo Tuesday that the supermarket has nothing to do with it too easy.
The Public Prosecution Service does not want to confirm whether the Jumbo CEO is detained despite the fact that there was a search of his home on Tuesday. There are sources including the Financial Newspaper who are certain that the CEO is incarcerated. Jumbo acknowledged on Thursday that their boss Frits van Eerd is no longer present to do management tasks.
“When it comes to sponsorship contracts, Jumbo is definitely involved.”
Jumbo was quick to tell on Tuesday that the FIOD raid and the investigation do not focus on their supermarket chain. The latter finds supermarket expert Paul Moers a bit too easy from Jumbo. “The money laundering can just be related to sponsor contracts. Then Jumbo is definitely involved.”
“It seems that the Jumbo CEO has now been detained for four days without being allowed to have contact with the outside world. That means that there are serious indications that he is involved in something that is not right,” says expert Moers.
But because the Public Prosecution Service says that the investigation is about sponsorship contracts and car trade, it can also be about the private person Frits van Eerd. “Van Eerd himself has a car collection worth 30 million euros,” says Moers. “But if he is privately involved in illegal practices and has profited from it financially, it is even more damaging to his image than if he did it for sponsorship from the company,” Moers continues.
“Frits is a kind of god, but that sentiment changes when he has privately enriched himself.”
Because so far, the supermarket CEO can’t do much wrong. “In Veghel and far beyond, Frits van Eerd is a kind of god. Especially now that Max Verstappen, who is also sponsored by Jumbo, scores so well. Then people still have some sympathy.” But that can change just like that, says Moers. “If he has mainly benefited privately financially, the sentiment is completely different,” says Moers. “People think ‘I have to cut back and he is full of money and still doesn’t think it’s enough’.”
Moers advises the Jumbo boss to temporarily step down from Jumbo if he is indeed prosecuted for money laundering. On Friday, all eight suspects will appear before the examining magistrate who will decide whether they will remain in custody any longer or not. Even after this decision, the judiciary is still not required to indicate whether the supermarket manager belongs to the suspects.
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