Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Crime
accompanying paper
administration and financial accounting system
administrative error
bankrupt
beef tallow
cheap horse meat
cold store
court
criminally liable
De Rechtspraak
determining the sentence
DNA
Dutch meat distributor
East-Brabant
England
falsifying delivery notes
falsifying invoices
falsifying written statements
foreign customer
fraud
fraud incident
horse DNA
horse meat
horse meat deliveries
horse meat processing
inaccurate label
Ireland
knowingly tampering
meat trading
negative image on Dutch meat industry
Netherlands judiciary
pure beef
sales invoice
using fake documents
Willy Selten
Tuesday, 7 April 2015 - 16:10
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Horse meat fraudster gets 30 months in prison

A court in East Brabant sentenced 45-year old Willy Selten to 30 months in prison for falsifying invoices, delivery notes and written statements, and using these fake documents in meat trading in two companies. Selten denied knowingly tampering with meat and claimed the fraud incident only to be an administrative error in late March. In determining the sentence, the court took into account that Selten's customers and ultimately the consumers were severely mislead. He saved costs by purchasing cheap horse meat, mixing it with beef tallow and selling it as more expensive beef. Because the companies supplied meat also for foreign customers, the court sees that Selten has contributed to a negative image on Dutch meat industry and harmed other Dutch meat distributors. The court found it proven that Selten's companies purchased and processed at least 336,000 kilograms of horse meat during 2011 and 2012. However, horse meat processing never showed up in the companies' administration and financial accounting systems nor in the sales invoices and accompanying papers containing the horse meat deliveries, the court states. Selten was thus held criminally liable for overseeing this as the companies' director. Both of the companies were declared bankrupt in the first half of 2013. An initial investigation was conducted into Selten's companies was in 2013 when horse meat was found in Ireland and England in products sold as pure beef. Out of 167 samples taken from the companies' meat sold as beef, 35 tested positive for horse DNA. Selten claimed this have being an honest mistake when the cold store placed inaccurate labels on products. His companies would never deliberately mix different meats up, according to Selten.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Dutch high school students lagging far behind in civics, democracy studies
  • Climate change poses financial risks for homeowners in 900 Dutch neighborhoods: ABN Amro
  • Investments in European tech sector plummeting; Netherlands doing relatively well
  • Amsterdam steps up the fight against damp and mold in rental homes
  • Multiple fireworks shows in Amsterdam over New Year’s
  • Criminals infiltrate Dutch municipalities dozens of times per year: report

Top stories

  • Criminals infiltrate Dutch municipalities dozens of times per year: report
  • Most Netherlands residents worried about climate change, against fossil subsidies
  • Pics: First snowfall turns parts of Netherlands white; Code yellow warning for icy roads
  • Geert Wilders wants former left-wing minister to lead Cabinet formation talks
  • Cabinet formation leader resigns over fraud allegations hours before first talks
  • Prices still high because supermarkets can't buy stocks from other EU countries

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content