Failure to destroy 200 secret tape recordings between defendants and their lawyers led judges in Amsterdam to throw out a major mortgage fraud case on Monday, news agency ANP reports.

Recording confidential conversations is not illegal in Dutch criminal investigations but anything learned from them cannot be used in evidence.
Last year, charges against several members of the Hells Angels motorcycling gang were dismissed on similar grounds.
For more on the Hells Angels case, click herehttp://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2007/12/hells_angels_case_dismissed_pr.php