Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) recently arrested two men from Amsterdam on suspicion of money laundering, underground banking and forgery.
As part of the investigation, the authorities searched three residential premises, two business premises and four shops. They seized physical and digital administration, three cars and 50,000 euros ($56,870) in cash.
One of the two defendants is suspected to be an active unregistered underground banker. The authorities suspect that the defendants are keeping large amounts of illicitly-obtained cash out of the usual banking payment system for criminal networks. These amounts of money probably originate from criminal activities, including (international) drug trafficking.
One of the defendants also presumably misused the bank accounts of his shops to launder criminal money. This defendant also allegedly used false invoices to commit income tax, sales tax and VAT fraud.
Source: Netherlands Police (Politie)
