Man facing prison for laundering Red Light District properties for Willem Holleeder

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) asked the Amsterdam court on Tuesday to declare nine buildings in the Amsterdam Red Light District forfeited and to sentence their owner, Marcel Kaatee (66), to one year in prison and two years of probation for money laundering. According to the OM, the Red Light District buildings actually belong to Willem Holleeder. Kaatee was accused of being his frontman who laundered the properties for him, but Kaatee has denied the allegations.

Kaatee further objected to the attempt to prosecute him, arguing that the OM was prosecuting him for the same crime twice. In 2007 and 2009, a district court and an appeals court acquitted him of laundering the Red Light District properties for Holleeder. But in recent years, the OM obtained more evidence that the buildings really belonged to Holleeder from various witness statements, including Holleeder himself. And according to the OM, the money laundering has continued in the years since - this case is not only about the charges which Kaatee previously defended himself against.

The properties were bought from money stemming from the Heineken kidnapping, the OM alleged. The properties involved include gambling halls Buddy Buddy and Molensteeg 1, which were shut down by the government in 2012, and Hotel Torenzicht on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal.

Part of the ransom paid for Freddy Heineken and his driver in the 1980s was never recovered. According to the OM, Holleeder and Cor van Hout, who was assassinated in 2003, invested their share of those millions into drug trafficking via South America. They then invested the ill-gotten proceeds in the real estate company from their friend, Rob Grifhorst, who bought the Red Light District properties in 1992. When the Heineken kidnappers divided their assets in 1996 due to a conflict, the Red Light District properties went to Holleeder, the OM said.

The properties were eventually sold on paper to Kaatee, but in practice, still belonged to Holleeder, various witnesses have testified. Kaatee also disputed that the missing ransom was used to finance the property purchase.

Kaatee is convinced the new case against him stems from his refusal to cooperate with the OM in prosecuting Holleeder for various assassinations. Holleeder has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in that case.

“On 3 July 2020, one of those public prosecutors presented me with two options. They used the Red Light District buildings as leverage to get me to make a statement. I chose to tell the truth [that he knew nothing about Holleeder and assassinations, ed], and I was promptly prosecuted again for money laundering,” Kaatee said in court on Monday, Parool reported. As far as Kaatee is concerned, this is blackmail, and the OM should be in court, not him.

The OM denies the allegations. According to the Prosecutor, it did approach Kaatee in 2020 with the aim of getting the Red Light District buildings out of criminal hands. “Only through forfeiture will the Red Light District buildings be removed from criminality,” the OM said. “The OM offered K. a way out in 2020. He could avoid criminal proceedings by relinquishing the buildings. He did not want this.”

The OM demanded 18 months in prison, six of which are conditionally suspended, and two years of probation against Kaatee. The court will rule on November 11.