Frits van Eerd abused his position at Jumbo to enrich himself. That is the conviction of the Public Prosecution Service (OM), which has demanded a 24-month prison sentence, eight months of which are suspended, against the former top executive of the supermarket chain.
According to the judiciary, Van Eerd collaborated with Theo E., against whom four years in prison has been demanded. That sentence is higher because E. is also held responsible for tax fraud and has previously been convicted of similar offenses.
It is noteworthy that Jumbo had filed a fraud report against E. in 2014. He abused sponsorship contracts of the supermarket for his own gain. Van Eerd was also briefly a suspect at the time, but the suspicion was quickly dropped. A letter signed by Van Eerd was sent from Jumbo to E. stating that all cooperation was terminated.
According to the judiciary, that was merely a paper truth. Without Jumbo’s knowledge, Van Eerd maintained contact with E. Again, sponsorship contracts were used to benefit both of them. An example is a sponsorship of 335,000 euros for a motorcycle racing team. Of that, 230,000 euros was actual sponsorship money, but 105,000 euros went to E.
Van Eerd also received a share, often in the form of goods such as expensive toolboxes, a low-loader, or weed killers. According to the OM, these were gifts from E. to appease Van Eerd. In WhatsApp conversations between the two, there was often talk of “gifts”. The judiciary considers bribery and forgery of documents by drawing up a false invoice for sponsorship to be proven.
Van Eerd also found guilty of money laundering
Van Eerd has also been found guilty of money laundering. An amount of 448,000 euros in cash was found with him, of which, according to the OM, slightly more than 427,000 euros was laundered. The public prosecutor believed very little of the statements made by friends, family, and employees about cash payments to Van Eerd.
In one case, the OM even expressed the suspicion that someone was paid for a statement. The person was hired six months after his testimony and earned 29,000 euros in three months. It is unknown what the employment entailed.
“It is striking that Van Eerd does not hesitate to put forward friends, employees, and family members to make statements that we have argued are incorrect,” said the public prosecutor. “In our opinion, this also shows a flagrant indifference to the legal system and a lack of respect for judicial authorities. We also take that aspect into account in our demand.”
Van Eerd’s defense will speak in the afternoon. E.’s lawyer will plead on Thursday.