Two men accused of deliberately defrauding investors of €20m in the Palm Invest property scam should be jailed for five years, the public prosecution department said on Monday.

The two, Danny Klomp and Remco Voortman, are accused of fraud, money laundering and embezzlement in connection with Palm Invest, the property development firm they set up to invest in Dubai.
Over 400 people put a combined €31m into Palm Invest, which was advertised in glossy television adverts, promising returns of 9%i.
But most of the cash went on funding the lavish lifestyle of the founders, the public prosecution department says. The scam ran from 2005 until police stepped in in January 2008.
Big spenders
According to court documents, the prosecution claims the duo were spending €35,000 a day in 2007. The money went on jewelry, clothes, watches, travel and cars. Cash withdrawals from their bank accounts totalled €900,000.
‘This was a confidence trick of the highest order,’ one prosecution lawyer told the court on Monday.
According to the Financieele Dagblad, the company did not fall under the supervision of the financial services regulator because the minimum investment was €50,000.