The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is conducting a criminal investigation into Jan Paridaans, the controversial dog breeder from Eersel. That investigation is ongoing, the Public Prosecution Service confirms to Omroep Brabant. The NVWA has filed a file that the Public Prosecution Service has taken up ‘with priority’, says a spokesperson for the regulator. It is not yet known what Paridaans may be prosecuted for, but it could include animal abuse, tax evasion or fraud.
There have been problems with dog breeder Jan Paridaans from Eersel for a long time. Earlier this year, the NVWA already seized 667 neglected animals from the breeder. The dogs lived on concrete floors, in small and dirty cages and had health problems.
The NVWA shut down the company in May and decided that Paridaans was no longer allowed to keep dogs, but had to take action last week to remove dogs again. The Council of State also told him to close his business. Paridaans appealed against this, but the case was dismissed at the end of September. He was also imposed a penalty of 2,500 euros for every week he kept dogs. This was possible for a maximum of ten weeks, up to an amount of 25,000 euros. Those ten weeks have now passed and Paridaans has not yet paid anything.
The options for tackling Paridaans with penalty payments have now run out. Now the dog breeder can possibly prepare to go to court, if the Public Prosecution Service decides to prosecute him.
“It has become a very complicated matter.”
The question is why it all took so long. “Because it has become a very complicated matter,” says a spokesperson for the NVWA. “There is a lot involved in compiling the files and reports. We do this together. The Tax Authorities and the Fiod are also involved. We think that a joint approach is most effective.”
It is possible that Paridaans will not only be prosecuted for animal abuse, for which the NVWA has compiled the file. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service does not want to say anything about this: “The file is currently being assessed and the investigation is still ongoing.”
So far, Paridaans has only received penalty payments that he did not even pay, while another dog breeder from Deurne received a nine-month prison sentence this week. Here too, dogs lived in appalling conditions and things are therefore very similar.
“A penalty is not a punishment, it is a measure.”
“The difference is in the procedure: via the municipality or via the judge,” Marco van Duijn explains. He is a lawyer at Utopie Advocaten and specializes in animal law. “A penalty is not a punishment. People often think that, but it is a misunderstanding. It is a measure intended to stop the violation.”
Until now, the breeder in Eersel had gone through the municipality because the dog breeding did not fit within the zoning plan. At the dog breeder from Deurne it went through the courts. “This is possible because, for example, someone has filed a report or the Public Prosecution Service believes that criminal offenses have been committed. The case in Eersel gives every reason to do so,” says Van Duijn. It now remains to be seen whether the Public Prosecution Service will also decide to prosecute.
In September, the NVWA removed dogs for the fourth time.
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