Society interior designer and furniture maker Jan des Bouvrie is suspected of submitting false bills to the property firm run by his friend Evert Kroon, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday.

Des Bouvrie, who appears regularly on tv, was arrested earlier this week. Kroon has been in custody for a week, the paper says.
Sources have told the Telegraaf the 67-year-old designer submitted bills for hundreds of thousands of euros worth of work to the Kroon Group in Zeist. But in fact, the work was carried out on Kroon’s private home in France and his €6.5m yacht, the paper says.
Tax liability

The trick allowed Kroon to deduct value added tax on the work on his private home and reduce his property group’s corporate tax liabilities. In total, the fraud has cost the taxpayer €1.5m, the paper says.
Sources told the Telegraaf, Des Bouvrie was released from custody on Wednesday evening.
According to the NRC, last year, Des Bouvrie asked his 25 employees to take a 10% pay cut because of the effect of the recession.