A man convicted eight years ago of money laundering, forgery and membership of a criminal organisation has been ordered to pay €58.5m to the Dutch state, the Volkskrant reported on Thursday.

Rotterdam judges on Thursday ordered the payback under Dutch legislation which aims to strip criminals of their ill-gotten gains. The public prosecution department had called for a €89m levy.

The man, named as Bhagwandath P, was jailed for 10 years in 2005 for importing cocaine into the Netherlands but was found not guilty of drug smuggling on appeal.

According to the public prosecution department, P deposited €89m into bank accounts owned by a company named Drikko. There is no evidence that the money was earned legitimately and it should, therefore, be forfeited, the department said.