Court denies man’s claim that girlfriend torched his €6,500 while baking cookies
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) does not have to replace banknotes that were allegedly accidentally burned in an oven when the owner’s girlfriend turned it on to bake cookies, the Council of State ruled on Wednesday. The Council of State agreed with a previous ruling that it can’t say for certain the 6,500 euros in cash wasn’t deliberately damaged.
In this case, a man asked the DNB to replace his damaged banknotes. He said that he hid the cash in his oven at home. His girlfriend did not realize this and turned on the oven to bake cookies, burning about half of the notes. According to the man, he lost around 6,500 euros.
The DNB asked the National Analysis Center for Counterfeit Money (NAC) to examine the damaged notes. It concluded that something suspicious was going on. According to the NAC, the banknotes looked like they were in direct contact with an open flame and also had other damage inconsistent with what would happen to them in an electric oven.
Because the man did not provide a plausible explanation for the deviations the NAC found, the DNB decided against replacing the banknotes. According to the DNB, it seems likely that they were deliberately damaged.
The man objected to this decision in court and on appeal, arguing that the NAC report was unreliable and that it was not his fault that the money was burned. But both rulings went against him. The Council of State now also ruled against him.
The Council of State agreed with the court in The Hague that there is no reason to doubt the reliability of the NAC investigation and report. “The court rightly ruled that DNB does not have sufficient reasons to believe that [the man] is acting in good faith,” the Council of State said.
The central bank does not have to replace the damaged banknotes, and the man is responsible for DNB’s legal costs in this case, the Council of State ruled.
