Image
Friday, 4 March 2016 - 15:20
Coffeeshop owner imprisoned in Thailand: Dutch prosecutor to testify
The court in The Hague summoned Dutch prosecutor Lucas van Delft to testify in the case of coffeeshop owner Johan van Laarhoven, currently serving a 103 year sentence in Thailand. The court wants to know exactly what information the Dutch judiciary gave the Thai judiciary in this case, Omroep Brabant reports.
Van Laarhoven, founder of The Grass Company, always maintained that the Thai judiciary only started investigating him after the Netherlands tipped them off. The court now wants Van Delft to answer some questions about this under oath.
In 2014 the Dutch judiciary informed the Thai authorities that Van Laaroven was a suspect in a money laundering case and that he earned money by selling soft drugs in the Netherlands. The Netherlands asked the Thai government for insight into various of Van Laarhoven's bank accounts.
Gerard Spong, Van Laarhoven's lawyer, is pleased with the court's decision to question the prosecutor. "It's good that through this interview there will come clarity on prosecutor Lucas van Delft's conduct in Thailand." he said to the broadcaster. "Johan van Laarhoven always wondered what Van delft did in Thailand and who he spoke to there."
Van Delft was recently in the news after the police caught him making threatening phone calls against him self. The police believes that he, using a fake name, reported that criminals planed to kill him. He was suspended as a prosecutor and the Public Prosecutor Zeeland West-Brabant is investigating.